


Final Fantasy VII: SOLDIER's Pride

by Zana_Zira



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Blood and Injury, F/M, Romantic Friendship, Swordplay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-21
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-30 01:53:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 39,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1012632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zana_Zira/pseuds/Zana_Zira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It has been a year since Kadaj's attack on Edge and Sephiroth's rebirth, and in their wake, Cloud attempts to move on and find peace. However, a new threat looms on the horizon and he will soon be pulled back into battle, this time with a newfound ally who may know more about SOLDIER than she lets on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

The knock at the door was sudden, yet somehow not surprising, a bit like the first clap of thunder from a storm that has been building for hours. And like a storm, the sound brought about a feeling of foreboding to anyone within earshot of it.

A man and a woman, both in their late fifties, looked up from the papers they had been reading in their old armchairs as soon as they heard the pounding at the door. With a numb expression, the man rose from his creaky leather chair and began to hobble across the rotting wooden floorboards to peer through a bug-eaten hole in the door. His wife, thin and pale and skittish, wrung her hands and nervously tossed a strand of graying black hair over her shoulder.

"Who -" she began, clutching her husband's hand, which was gnarled and rough from years of hard work in the fields.

"Shh!" her husband warned, his voice choked. "Someone from Shin-Ra."

The woman's face paled and her bony hand tightened further around his. She could hardly stand that name anymore. Shin-Ra had already stolen their son away from them, enticing him with idealistic images of heroic soldiers fighting on the front lines. Then, soon after he had left home, their sixteen-year-old daughter had run away to try and bring her brother back; they hadn't seen or heard from her in almost five years. Neither one of them was even sure she was still alive.

"How I miss them," she often said to herself. "How I wish our children would return to us. Then, at least, our family would be whole again."

"Please, come in," her husband offered icily, bringing her out of her reverie. The old wooden door creaked on its rusty hinges as it swung open, revealing a young man clad in a traditional Shin-Ra SOLDIER uniform; his face was masked beneath the shadow of his protective helmet. A deep frown creased the corners of his lips, making it impossible to guess his exact age, although he seemed no older than twenty-five.

"What can we do for you, sir?" the old woman asked wearily. "If this is about taxes, we have already told the collectors we'll pay next week."

"No, ma'am..." the young man replied hesitantly. "It's... I bring a message from the Shin-Ra Corporation: SOLDIER division. Your son, Zack Fair -"

"Is he alright? Tell me he's alright!" Her hands had begun to tremble so violently that she had to clasp them against her chest to keep them still. The boy hesitated, then shook his head sadly.

"Zack Fair, age twenty-three... has been eliminated by Shin-Ra's troops. He was a fugitive, being pursued for his treason against Shin-Ra and SOLDIER." Zack's mother screamed in anguish and fell to her knees.

"NOOOO! Not my Zack! Not my baby boy! Please, no! Gods, take me instead! Take me insteeeaaad!" Zack's father sobbed and tried to help her to her feet, but she swatted his hands away, still screaming "My son! Oh, my son!..."

The young man seemed uncomfortable, unsure of what his next words should be. Finally, his voice breaking, he said, "I'm breaking orders by telling you this, but I -" He swallowed hard and then continued. "I admired Zack a lot. He was a great SOLDIER, and my mentor, and I -"

"Yo, Kunsel!" called another Shin-Ra troop just out of sight. "How long does it take to tell some traitor's folks he bit the dust? It's friggin' hot out here, and I got a date with my girl tonight!" Kunsel whirled around so furiously that the other man instantly fell silent.

"I am so sorry," Kunsel said, gingerly placing a hand on the woman's shaking shoulder. "I don't believe Zack was a traitor. I truly don't." Then, without another word, he turned on his heel and strode away, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. No one, not even the specially trained infantrymen, detected a slender figure listening from the shadows behind the old house, choking back tears of their own as they mourned in silence. Before any of them could notice, the figure had slipped away like a phantom into the emptiness of the desert.


	2. Caught Off Guard

_Four Years Later..._

The sun shone brightly as it hovered far away in the sky over Kalm, providing light but little warmth on the brisk October day. The only sound for miles came from the Chocobo flapping their wings and calling to each other in the local ranchers' fields. On this immense plain, where only Chocobo ranchers and monsters lived, one man was slowly making his way through the countryside, enjoying the sights and sounds of the lonely place. He was alone out here, and that was how he wanted it. It gave him time to think. The man's reverie was quickly interrupted, though, as an annoyingly familiar sound broke the silence around him.

" _One new message. One new message,_ " Cloud Strife's cell phone chirped from the pocket of his pants. He retrieved it almost robotically, gripping it firmly in his strong, leather-covered hand. " _One new message. One n-_ " A quiet click met Cloud's ears as he pressed OK and activated his voicemail. The automated female voice spoke again, and he sighed in annoyance. Why couldn't these phones just go straight to the actual message for once?

" _Received: today, October 4th, at 3:22pm._ "

" _Cloud,_ " began an apprehensive female voice he knew almost better than his own. " _H_ _ow are you? Have you reached Othello yet? The delivery is due today, so I hope you haven't been putting it off..._ " Cloud chuckled to himself. Tifa knew him too well. " _Just... Cloud... I've heard there've been some strange things happening in Othello lately. I can't be sure if any of them are true, but I'm still worried about you. A lot of people have been disappearing right outside the gates of the city, and no one knows why. I don't expect a call back, but be careful, okay?_ " The phone clicked softly again.

" _End of message,_ " said the robotic voice. " _To save, press-_ " Cloud flipped it shut and returned it to his pocket. He sighed as he straddled his motorcycle and slid protective steel goggles over his eyes, fighting to free the strands of his unruly hair that had gotten caught in the straps. He turned the key and put it in gear; the bike roared with power beneath his muscular legs. It was a bike only the strongest of people could even stay on top of, let alone control. With one quick twist of the throttle he was off, tires tearing into the hard earth as he sped away toward Othello.

* * *

The sun had ducked behind the mountains in the west by the time Cloud spied the glistening lights of Othello. It was a modern, glitzy, bustling place that, after the fall of Shin-Ra and Midgar, had become the largest city on the Continent. Its population was some fifty million people, many of them survivors of the Meteorfall who had fled from their ruined homes. The wide streets stretched outward from its central square for what seemed an eternity before ending abruptly at impossibly high steel walls, each patrolled by untold numbers of specially trained guards. To Cloud, being the antisocial man that he was, Othello seemed far short of glamorous. In fact, to him it seemed downright unbearable. The city was like Midgar in several unsettling ways, the first of which being the guards at the walls who never seemed to sleep or take shifts. They reminded Cloud a little of Shin-Ra's SOLDIERs, genetically altered supermen who often became closer to monsters than they cared to admit, himself included. The construction of Othello, too, was much like Midgar's had been. The imposing walls of steel were ten feet thick at their thinnest point, making it appear as though they were meant to keep someone - or something - locked out of the city.

"Looks like Shin-Ra's mistakes made 'em nervous," Cloud muttered with a smirk. "As if a few metal walls could protect them from something like that." He sped up, then, and proceeded toward the city, which was still far in the distance.

Just a mile outside the gates, Cloud skidded to a halt and cut the engine, sliding to the ground with a rustle of cloth and opening the storage compartment in the front of Fenrir. A small lacquer box containing a necklace made of red Materia shards - a present for the customer's wife - sat exactly as he had left it, protected from being jostled on the ride by the tight bundle of cloth Cloud had wrapped around it. Satisfied, he closed the compartment and locked it securely, climbing somewhat tiredly back onto his bike. It had been a long day's ride, and he would be glad to be able to eat and rest at a nice inn.

As he started the engine, Cloud thought he glimpsed a flash of gold in the blackness beside him, but it vanished before he could get a good look at it. He shrugged it off, unconcerned. A firefly, surely; sometimes they did still come out as late as October, and it wasn't too cold yet. He twisted the throttle ever so gently; there were no paved roads to follow, and he knew that in this darkness his headlights would not be enough to keep him safe at extreme speeds.

Fenrir continued forward at a crawl, and again came that glint of gold. This time Cloud was sure it was no illusion. The hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up, and he drove with one hand as he drew one of the Fusion Swords from the leather scabbard across his back. The light vanished, then reappeared, followed by seven others. Some were gold, some green, and some a deep blood red. A low rumble echoed around him, loud enough to be heard even over the engine, and it was followed by a sound like metal scraping against rock. The shadows around him had grown larger, and all of them appeared to be moving. His hand gripped the pommel of the blade tighter as the rumbling became a murderous growl.

The beam of his headlights fell across one of the shadows, and Cloud could finally make out its terrifying form. A canine face covered in fur as black as night was marked by two glaring eyes, red as fresh blood and furious; the eyes sat above a snarling, foaming muzzle full of six-inch-long fangs that glinted with hideous, terrifying hatred. The creature's massive body was supported by eight muscular black legs, complete with paws as large as Fenrir's tires, and the tail lashing out behind it was twice the length of the enormous motorcycle. Cloud had heard of these creatures before, but he had never seen one up close. They were called Sincanus, and their specialty was hunting their prey in packs.

"Perfect," Cloud muttered, realizing he was in real danger now. He wheeled around on Fenrir and struck out at the wolf-like beasts with his blade, missing by only inches. "Damn! They're fast." The pack of four roared and swatted at him with their enormous paws, enraged and ready to make a kill. Cloud twisted the throttle as hard as he could, but their long legs easily kept pace with Fenrir; he could feel the hot breath from their foaming jaws on his back as they gained ground.

He spun around again, this time managing to thrust his sword deep into one beast's throat. It yelped, tripping and slamming down hard enough to shake the ground beneath him. Before Cloud could feel relieved, though, his heart sank. The Sincanus pack had begun to howl, a chilling sound that combined the haunting cry of a wolf with the terrifying scream of someone being tortured. The ground shook as four more enormous Hell-hounds joined the hunt, determined to take revenge for their fallen leader. Drawing another blade out of Fenrir, Cloud accelerated with a growl of his own, flying away from the safety of the city as he led the bloodthirsty beasts away from its residents.

His speed was beginning to fail him. The monsters could easily keep pace with the bike, and they had the advantage of being able to see and smell the terrain, neither of which he was able to do well. True fear began to take hold of him as he realized how hopeless his situation was, and he spun about once more, hoping to catch the monstrous dogs by surprise. It worked, and he sped back toward the city, knowing his only hope now was to run and pray they did not catch up again.

Unfortunately, luck was not on his side. One of the Sincanus caught on to his strategy at the last possible moment. As Cloud soared past it at nearly one hundred miles per hour, the beast lashed out with an enormous paw, batting the rear tire of Fenrir and sending Cloud flying over the side as it spun. His shoulder slammed into the hard earth with a crack like a gunshot, but he was too stunned to notice. He writhed as the pain took hold, trying to pull himself together but failing miserably. Something hit him blindingly fast in the side of the head, sending stars exploding out behind his eyes. He could barely see, but he could swear the air around him was suddenly alight with flame. The Sincanus growled and retreated from the ball of fire, snarling as they searched for the spell's caster. A human shape stood over Cloud, brandishing a sword and making sounds unlike any he had heard a human being make before. The figure leapt away from him, seeming to vanish straight into the flames. A series of yelps and a long, angry howl followed, and then Cloud let himself sink into the blackness.


	3. Help from a Stranger

Crackling. Soft, steady crackling. The gentle sound broke into Cloud's consciousness, further confusing his already scattered senses. He could feel warmth radiating from something to his right, but his eyes refused to obey him and remained firmly closed. Pain wracked his entire body, at one moment dull and throbbing, at the next cutting like a knife. He moaned softly in his agony - or perhaps he only imagined doing so.

The world around him felt artificial and dreamlike to his semi-conscious mind. The air smelled thick and pungent, heavy with the scents of wood smoke and something rich that made his stomach growl. He could feel something cool being laid against his forehead; a thin, cold liquid ran in little rivulets down his cheeks and into his hair. Old memories of trivial childhood illnesses rose to the surface, making him feel warm and safe. As always, his mother was here taking care of him.

"Mo...ther...?" he whispered feebly. He hadn't realized how dry his throat was before; he could barely speak. A soft chuckle met his ears.

"No, I'm not your mother, Cloud," the stranger said, half pitying and half amused. "Open your eyes and see for yourself." His eyes slowly fluttered open, and he blinked rapidly to clear the fog from them. A young woman in a midnight blue traveling cloak was kneeling beside him; the hood was pushed back to allow him to see her face. Her head was curved in a subtle oval. Full pink lips, a slightly pointed chin, and a nose well-proportioned to the gentle build of her face all sat below two of the most expressive eyes he had ever seen. They were a glowing electric blue, and they sparkled with both intensity and a sort of laughing joy. The whole picture was framed by a shining cascade of long, choppy black hair that reminded him of waves in an ocean storm.

The young woman grinned at him as she dipped a worn rag into a bucket of cool water and began to clean his face and chest with it. Although the water stung inside of the deep wounds covering his body, it felt soothing on his aching muscles, so he silently allowed her to continue her work. As she did, he began to study his surroundings. He was lying on a pallet of worn blankets in the middle of a small clearing inside a dense forest. Nothing but more trees met his eyes in any direction. A small fire surrounded by a ring of stones and earth blazed in the center of the clearing, bringing a touch of warmth to the now frigid night, and a small pot of boiling liquid hung from a wooden pole just above the fire. Another bedroll had been laid out beside his; its blankets were far fewer and thinner. He supposed it must belong to the woman. Against one of the trees on the opposite side of the clearing, Fenrir sat beside an old Hardy Daytona and his Fusion Sword; all six of the enormous sword's blades had somehow been recovered and rejoined. His shirt and jacket hung from the tree's branches and dangled just above Fenrir; even at this distance, he could see that they were torn and blood-soaked.

Cloud could feel himself getting dizzy, so he closed his eyes and tried to take deep breaths until the lightheadedness faded. His breathing was quick and shallow, though, more resembling a dog's panting than anything else. Every time he inhaled, it created a new stab of pain in his chest. He tried hard to mask his discomfort, but the woman noticed anyway. Her eyebrows came close together as she studied him with those intense blue eyes.

"Where does it hurt?" she asked casually.

"My chest," he whispered. "Whenever I... breathe..." She nodded as if she had expected this answer, then silently studied him for a moment.

"Which side?" He nodded weakly toward the right. The woman looked down at his chest and noticed, beneath the many bleeding gashes, three thin lines of swelling running horizontally across the right side of his chest. She gently touched each with a long finger, and Cloud gasped in pain. The third time, he grabbed her wrist with a clammy, shaking hand and stared hard at her.

"What... are you... doing?!"

"Sorry, I know it's uncomfortable, but I had to be sure I was right. You must've fallen hardest on your right side. You've got three broken ribs there." Cloud didn't respond, just continued staring blankly ahead of him. She thought, for just a moment, that he looked very sad. "But," she said, trying to cheer him up, "aside from all the cuts and a sprained right arm, that looks like the worst of your injuries." Again, Cloud said nothing. This woman was beginning to puzzle him.

"Umm," he finally mumbled, "Miss? You... seem to know my name, but... I have no idea who you are."

"Oh, yeah! Sorry about that!" She slapped her forehead with her palm, embarrassed by her bad manners. "My name's Zana Zira. I'm an old friend of someone you know."

"'Someone I know?'"

"Let's just leave it at that for now, okay? I'll tell you everything in the morning, but right now I need to treat your wounds without causing you any more stress."

" _Too late_ ," Cloud thought. Zana fell silent and began to prepare her supplies. She tied back her hair, rolled up her sleeves, and disinfected her hands, then dug a set of ointments and bandages out of her worn leather knapsack. She laid them and a small cloth package on a clean blanket, then slid her hands under Cloud's back and helped him sit up as comfortably as he could.

"Do you trust me enough to let me do this?" she asked. Cloud, never one for conversation even among friends, merely shrugged his consent. She sighed. "You're not much of a talker, are you?" No response. "Fine, then, be that way!" she said, grinning. Her expression made Cloud feel very safe; he felt as if he had seen it many times before, but he couldn't remember why. Zana, humming softly to herself, opened a jar of neon green gel and began to rub it into some of the smaller gashes before covering them with gauze pads.

"Crushed gysahl greens," she replied to his inquiring look. "Good in more ways than just chocobo food. In gel form they make a great numbing ointment and antiseptic. You'll hardly feel these cuts at all after a few minutes." Cloud nodded, smiling almost imperceptibly as he remembered his mother telling him exactly the same thing nearly twenty years earlier. Something about this Zana girl brought him comfort, just as something about Aerith and Tifa did.

Having treated all of the minor cuts, Zana began to focus on the large slice that ran from the area behind Cloud's left ear to just below his jaw. It had been caused by a Sincanus's claw; the beast's massive paw had been what had knocked him unconscious when it hit his head. The cut wasn't extremely deep, and it was clean enough that there would be minimal scarring, but there was still a high risk of infection if it was left untreated. Zana removed a small needle and a spool of nylon thread from among her supplies and sterilized the needle in the fire.

"This next one's gonna hurt a little more," she warned. Cloud turned his head toward her as far as was comfortable and nodded.

"Do what you have to." She smiled reassuringly. Cloud closed his eyes to keep from anticipating the pain. First, he felt Zana take a damp rag and wipe off the dried blood, careful not to touch the wound itself, and then apply some gysahl gel to the cut. Then he felt the first stab of pain as she held the sides of the cut together and began stitching it closed. He felt pain and relief in a sort of rhythm, the pace never rushed and never changing. His left hand tightened around a fistful of blankets to keep him from shaking; his right arm hung uselessly across his chest in a homemade sling.

Finally Zana tied off the thread and wiped her brow, wrapping a white gauze bandage around Cloud's head to cover the stitches and prevent swelling. Cloud noticed he could now only see out of his right eye as a result. He looked down at his chest, totally wrapped in bandages to immobilize his ribs, his arm in the sling, and his wrapped knees and ankles - to help with any hidden sprains, Zana had said. A wry smile crept across his lips.

"How do you feel now?" Zana asked as she repacked her medical supplies.

"Mummified." She giggled at his simple answer.

"Ah, so there  _is_  humor in there somewhere! And you do kind of look like a mummy. But are you still in pain?"

"Some, but not as much," Cloud answered honestly. "I have to ask, though; why do you have all this stuff, anyway? Are you a doctor or something?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that," Zana answered hastily. "I just travel a lot, and since I'm pretty accident-prone I've learned that it's best to always have something to patch myself up with, that's all."

"Oh, I see." Cloud looked downward as his stomach growled, a slight blush of embarrassment creeping up into his cheeks. He hadn't eaten since he had left Midgar that morning, and he was ravenous.

"Hungry?" Zana asked amusedly.

"A little..."

"That, I can fix." She retrieved two small silver bowls from her bag and held them up to the pot over the fire, spooning a thick stew into each. She picked up a canteen of cool water and gave it to him along with the bowl. "Hopefully my cooking's not too bad," she continued a bit shyly. "If nothing else, it'll fill you up." Cloud gratefully accepted the food and raised the bowl to his lips with his good hand. He blew on it and then tasted the thick broth. To his surprise, it was wonderful; it filled his entire body with warmth from the first sip. Zana grinned.

"You like it?"

"It's... good..."

"I hoped you'd say that."

After they had finished the meal, Zana took away the bowls and strode over to the fire. She laid them upside down in the flames until the food inside had crumbled away to ash, effectively cleaning and sterilizing the bowls, then pulled them out to cool. Cloud was feeling much better than before, and he found that if he lay on his left side his chest hardly hurt at all. His eyes were heavy with a desire to sleep. He wearily sank beneath the blankets, his mind fuzzy from the warmth of the fire and his now full stomach.

Just as he finally drifted off, he heard Zana speaking to him. "Sleep well, Cloud..."

* * *

After she was sure Cloud was asleep, Zana repacked the bowls and strode toward Fenrir. As soundlessly as possible, she opened the front storage compartment and removed the black lacquer box, reading the label on top to herself: "K. Takeru, Sector 9-E, 132nd Ave., House 55." She slipped the box into her bag and closed the door of the compartment, slipping away silently and leaving Cloud to his dreams.

When she was a safe distance from the clearing, she pulled a phone from the folds of her cloak, typed a message, and pressed SEND. A few moments later the recipient sent their response: "Thank the gods. See you soon, Lass." Zana grinned, then put the phone away and walked toward Othello. Cloud was never any the wiser.


	4. Behind Those Blue Eyes

It was morning before Cloud realized his mistake. His eyes shot open and he bolted up, ignoring his protesting body as he stood and strode over to Fenrir. He unlatched the front compartment door and looked inside; only emptiness greeted him. The necklace was gone and so, he noticed, was Zana. He slammed his left fist against the bike and groaned.

"Damn!" he growled. "Tifa's gonna have my head for this! That necklace was worth more than Seventh Heaven!" Looking up into the tree above him, he realized that his clothes were also missing. He groaned in dismay. Looking around the clearing, he saw that the fire had been reduced to smoldering ashes, and that although Zana's bedroll lay untouched, her leather bag was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn!" he repeated. A loud howl suddenly rang out through the trees, echoing through every branch. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and he backed up against the tree, struggling to hold the Fusion Sword in his weakened state. The howling grew louder, coming closer every second. He tensed, knowing that this time he stood little chance of saving himself. A twig snapped to his left and he stood his ground, prepared to kill the beast the second it came into his sight.

A human shape suddenly bounded out of the shadows, standing protectively in front of him and facing the source of the haunting sound. Though he could not see the woman's face, Cloud instantly recognized her as Zana Zira. At almost the same instant, a Sincanus strode out of the trees, snarling and foaming at the mouth. With the grace of a cat, Zana easily leaped high above the wolf-like creature, drawing a broadsword from a scabbard on her back; Cloud had not known she had a sword the night before, but the wind had blown her cloak out of the way. With one swift swipe, she severed the beast's head, looking on in disdain as it crashed to the forest floor. She turned to Cloud with a smug look, then glared at him as she found herself looking into the cold blade of his sword, the tip of which was held just below her chin. She rolled her eyes and chuckled in disbelief.

"Hardly what I'd call a warm welcome," she said icily. "Especially considering I just saved your life. Twice." Cloud only glared back at her, his grip on the pommel tightening. Zana sighed again. "Look," she said calmly, "could you please just give me a chance to explain before you jump to conclusions? If you give me a second, I swear I will. And for Heaven's sake, put that sword down! You're making me nervous."

Cloud hesitantly lowered the blade, but the cool fury never left his eyes. He waited in tense silence as Zana picked up her leather bag and began to dig through it. After a few moments she retrieved a small bundle of cloth. He was unsure what to make of it until she untied the bundle, revealing his repaired and freshly laundered clothes. She draped them over Fenrir's handlebars and began rifling through the bag again. With a triumphant smile, she held up a brown drawstring bag, pressing it into the palm of his left hand.

"This is what you wanted, right?" she asked, crossing her arms and smiling smugly. Cloud was confused.

"No, what I wanted was that lacquer box with my customer's necklace inside. This isn't -"

"Oh, would you just open the bag already? Sheesh!" Zana snapped. Cloud obeyed, opening the top to examine the bag's contents. Inside were a multitude of silver and gold coins, as well as rolls of paper money and a folded square of white paper. He removed and unfolded the note, reading its contents in the bright sunlight filtering through the treetops.

" _To the members of Strife Delivery Service,_ " it read.

" _I humbly and sincerely thank you for your prompt delivery of my order. My wife was overjoyed to receive the necklace; I do not believe I have seen her covet any jewel this much since I have known her. I must admit that I was beginning to worry that it would not arrive, and was more than a little put off when it arrived just before midnight. However, after your delivery-woman explained the circumstances, all was well. Your dedication to your work should be praised, and I hope that you will accept this as a token of my gratitude. May you continue to succeed in your work._  


_Yours Truly,_

_Mr. Koryu Takeru_

  
_Delivery Received. Payment: 20,000 gil._ "

Cloud read it through twice more to be sure he was not mistaken. 20,000 gil - twice what the delivery cost had been. He was dumbfounded. How had Zana known? What strength his anger had given him drained away, and he sank down onto the forest floor, exhausted as the pain from his injuries finally caught up with him. Zana knelt beside him, smiling as he realized that she had not stolen anything from him. He attempted to stand, but she held his shoulder firmly and shook her head.

"No need to push yourself. You got really banged up yesterday." She paused, her eyes softening. "And I'm sorry, Cloud. I should have told you what I was doing, but I didn't want to wake you. I figured it would just be easier to do the delivery myself. You had every right to suspect me under the circumstances, though, and I'm actually kind of glad you did. It shows that you're still sharp enough not to trust blindly."

"I..." Cloud began. "I'm not sure... what to say except... Thank you, Miss Zira. I'm sorry I misunderstood." A small smile touched the corners of his mouth, disappearing as quickly as it had come. Zana grinned and patted his shoulder, her eyes dancing with happiness.

"No biggie. It's all water under the bridge now, so to speak. And you know something? I think you're the type of person I could be friends with. You're pretty interesting, even if you don't say much."

"Am I? I wouldn't know." He seemed unsure of his next words. "Um... Miss Zira..."

"Hmm?" she mumbled, stifling a yawn.

"I still don't... Why did you save me? How did you know I was anywhere near here in the first place?"

"Ah, the million-gil question. I was wondering when you'd ask. Where to begin... Ah! I know!" She reached into her cloak and retrieved her phone, then pressed the speed dial number 04. She turned it to speaker as she waited for the person on the other end to answer. Finally, an impatient male voice sounded over the line.

"About time, Zana!" the man snapped. "How long were you gonna leave me hangin', yo?" Cloud's eyes widened in recognition as his lips silently mouthed "Reno..."

"Don't get mad at  _me_ , 'yo!'" Zana mocked him. "I did what you asked, and I sent word, too. If Reina didn't give you the message -"

"Yeah, yeah, I got the message fine!" he drawled. "It's just a damn long way to fly before I've even had my morning coffee!" Zana rolled her eyes.

"How far out are you?" she asked impatiently. "Details, man, details!"

"Oh, yeah. Yeah. You're at -"

" _Point 2-1-3..._ " a female voice said in the background.

"Right. Thanks, Reina. 'Bout... a minute."

"Really? Alright, we'll wait for you."

"'Kay. I'm out." Click. Cloud looked incredulously at her.

"...The Turks? You're with the -"

"Yes and no," she said nonchalantly. "I'm more like a mercenary than anything else. But the Turks have become sorta like a family to me, so I decided to stick around. It's not a bad arrangement, really, working as hired muscle for them."

Cloud's face took on a look of utter shock as a new thought dawned on him. She had been toying with him all this time. His lips tightened into a thin line as he looked into her blue eyes... Unnaturally blue... Almost glowing with light... Now he was certain.

"Miss Zira," he said. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes?"

"There's something you haven't told me." Zana cocked an eyebrow at him, a playful smile twitching at one corner of her mouth.

"Oh?"

"Yes. Your full name." She sighed in resignation and held up her hands in surrender.

"You don't miss a thing, do you?" She slid her fingers between the clasps of her cloak and let it slip from her shoulders with a soft rustle.

Cloud now found himself looking at a completely different woman than he had imagined. She was lithe and lean, built of solid muscle; she obviously had immense upper body strength, and he was sure that the loose-fitting black pants that reached down to her black boots hid even more powerful muscles. A steel bangle with round slots around its edges adorned her right wrist, and a small blue crystal hung on a silver chain around her neck. A sleeveless black shirt identical to Cloud's covered her thin torso. Black leather straps crossed her chest and fastened to a black belt, securing her scabbard and black pauldrons; with a silent sweep of her arm, she slid the broadsword back into the scabbard, never averting her gaze from him.

"Makes sense now, doesn't it?" she asked quietly. "How I could fight off those Sincanus; how I could ride Fenrir to the clearing; why I have a Hardy Daytona. I'm sure you've pieced it together already, but my name... is SOLDIER 1st Class: Zana Zira."


	5. Take 'er Up!

Cloud could hardly believe what he was hearing; to think he had been talking to a SOLDIER all this time and never known. Yet the proof stood before him, her icy eyes calm and calculating as she awaited his reaction. There was no denying that this woman was truly a SOLDIER, and a First Class, at that. No other type of person could still make Cloud feel so young and inexperienced merely by being in their presence - and it didn't help that she looked so much like... Like Zack! That's who she reminded him of! Maybe the two were related...?

He had no time to ask her, though, for at that moment a violent wind stirred up above the trees, nearly knocking him flat on his face before Zana caught him beneath his arms and held him up. The chopper that had created the windstorm quickly descended, landing amid the trees in a place barely wide enough to admit it and mowing the leaves off of the treetops in the process. The pilot cut the engine and the deafening roar ceased almost immediately. The doors on either side slid open; two men and a woman silently strode toward them from across the clearing.

Reno, looking disheveled as ever despite his expensive black suit and white button-up shirt, scratched his head and yawned as he boredly surveyed the campsite. Rude, distinguishable from any distance due to his bald head and dark glasses, stood still as a statue, looking the part of the perfect secret agent with suit pressed, buttons fastened and shoes polished. What Reno lacked in form, Rude always more than compensated for.

Between them stood a young woman in her early twenties. Her wavy hair was fiery red and reached to just above her hips; at the moment it was tucked into a tight braid that whipped in the wind like Reno's ponytail while the propeller blades continued to turn. Her skin was fairer than the men's, and her eyes were emerald green. Her uniform, except in size, was no different from theirs, and in many ways she resembled Cissnei, a Turk who had retired from Shin-Ra seven years ago, just a year after Zana became a SOLDIER.

"Reina!" Zana shouted, waving to the red-headed woman and grinning ear-to-ear. Her arm absentmindedly slipped around Cloud's waist to hold him up as the Turks approached, though she was careful not to squeeze his ribs. The woman in question was the first to move forward, which she did at a quick lope.

"Zana!" she called. "How've ye been, Lass?" Her words were heavily accented with a thick brogue that Cloud had only ever heard from Cait Sith.

"I'm making do," Zana said evenly as she nodded toward Cloud, who was still too weak to stand completely on his own. "I sure am glad to see you three again, though. I'm ready to go back to Edge." The woman nodded absently at Zana, her long red braid bouncing heavily against her back; her attention was now on Cloud. Her lips tightened into a thin line as she sized him up, intent on memorizing every detail of his face. Cloud fidgeted a bit under the intensity of her stare. Unwavering focus on things she had not seen before was one of Reina's quirks. It was a bit unnerving until one got to know her, but an asset to the Turks, who often relied on her to gather information for their dossiers. Zana, however, was too used to it to notice.

"Ye've been goin' straight from one mission ta 'nother," Reina said, finally addressing Zana. "I's been months since I've seen ye! And this man here... is he-"

"Cloud Strife, yes," Zana answered. "And Cloud, this is Reina Cirrus, one of my best friends for years."

"Pleased to meet you," Cloud said softly. He tried to extend his good arm but winced as the muscles around his broken ribs stretched painfully. Reina held out a hand to stop him.

"Yer injured. Don't cause yerself any pain on my account. Speakin' o' which, let's get ye situated in the chopper so ye'll be more comfortable, hmm?" For some reason, Zana noticed that Cloud's body seemed to tense at that question, but she had no idea why. Cloud nodded, his voice a little unsteady.

"S-sure... Alright..."

"Reno! Rude!" Reina called over her shoulder. "Let's get to work! Ye aren't gonna make me do everythin', I hope!" She glanced around at the campsite once more, nodding as if she deemed it satisfactory. "We'll take over from here, Zana," Reina said as the other two reached her. "You take Cloud here an' try to get 'im into the plane as gently as ye can, alright?"

"And watch the door on the right side!" said Reno. "We need to tighten the bolt when we get back; it likes to slide shut on you. Right, Rude?" He pointed to a bandage wrapped around Rude's right wrist and grimaced.

"That's what I get for trusting  _you_  with maintenance," Rude said without a hint of humor in his voice.

"My bad, man, my bad. So anyway, Za- Umm, Zana?" He looked around in confusion before he realized she and Cloud were already halfway to the helicopter. "Ah, whatever! Let's start loading up!"

* * *

As the Turks packed the supplies into the small cargo hold below the belly of the chopper, Zana helped Cloud into one of the narrow seats behind the pilot's chair. It was a fairly cramped space - there were exactly enough seats for the three Turks and the two of them, with barely any elbow room - but Zana did her best to make him comfortable. If nothing else, it was still worlds better than trying to tow his bike back while carrying him and their supplies on her Hardy Daytona;  _that_  would have been all but impossible. Suddenly she realized she had forgotten something, and she gave Cloud an apologetic look.

"Just a minute more, okay?" Cloud nodded his consent, the slightest of amused smiles glinting behind his eyes.

"Fine by me." Zana stuck her head out of the door and looked around until she spotted what she was looking for.

"Reno!" she shouted. "Toss that leather bag here, would ya?" He threw it over to her, grumbling something about "too freakin' early..." and she caught it easily, opening the top to examine the contents. With a slight tug, she removed the bundle of blankets she had used the night before and draped them over one of the seats as extra padding, fluffing them a little to make them softer. She began to help Cloud into it, but he shrugged her off.

"This much, at least, I can do," he said firmly. He slowly lowered himself into the seat and tried to shift into as comfortable a position as possible, eventually laying his head back with an exhausted sigh and looking back toward Zana. "Thank you, Miss Zira..." he muttered, the slightest blush of embarrassment creeping into his cheeks. Zana felt a jolt of electricity course through her body as she looked into his eyes; something about him was definitely intriguing...

"Zana's just fine," she said cheerfully. "Everyone else calls me that, so you're welcome to."

"Alright, then... Zana..." Cloud said, testing out the sound of the word. "Thank you for going to so much trouble to help me. I'm not very good at thank-you's, but I... I really appreciate it."

"Aww shucks, it was nothin'," Zana said jokingly.

"For you, maybe!" Reno snapped as he climbed through the open door. "You get to sit in here chatting up SOLDIER-boy. We're the ones who had to pack up both of your damn bikes!" He wiped his brow on his sleeve and sank into the pilot's seat, glaring irritably at Zana. "Those things are friggin' heavy!" Rude slipped into the chair beside Reno's, totally unfazed.

"Nothing that's impossible for the-"

"Turks, Turks, I know! Give it a rest!" Reno griped, slamming the still-open door shut and almost catching his own hand in it.

"An' when I'm thinkin' about it," Reina said as she climbed into the chopper and closed the door on the left. "Why  _didn't_  we have ye help us with the Daytona and Fenrir? You and Rude're the muscles o' the group, after all! I coulda helped Cloud here just as easily as you." Her brow was drenched in sweat, and she, too, looked a little irritable. She sat down tiredly next to Cloud and gave Reno the thumbs-up. "Take 'er up!"

"Wait, wait!" Zana said before he could start the engine.

"What?!" Reno snapped.

"I got you guys something in Othello that you'll really love." Now Reno looked interested.

"Like what?" Zana reached into her bag and pulled out three carefully wrapped packages, each tied with black ribbon over white paper. She handed one each to the three Turks and waited in anticipation as they unwrapped their gifts. They all looked puzzled as two smaller paper packets fell out of each package and onto their laps. The largest packets were black, white, and tan for Reno, Reina, and Rude, respectively; the smaller were all purple. Reina was the first to piece it together, and her eyes lit up with excitement as she riddled it out.

"Lass... Tell me ye didn't!"

"I did! I did!" Zana answered gleefully.

"Yer truly the best, my friend!" It was all she could do not to give Zana a spine-breaking hug, but since Cloud sat between them it would probably hurt him a lot. Instead, she settled for hugging the parcels to her chest, very nearly purring with pleasure. Reno and Rude were confused.

"Mind filling us in, Little Miss Sunshine?" Reno said to Reina.

"It's what we all love, and what you always complain about not havin' enough of."

"Sex?" Reno asked, unable to resist the joke she had set him up for. She blushed and smacked him on the arm.

"No, not sex, ya idjit! Coffee! Othelloan coffee!" Reno's face lit up like a child's at Christmas.

"Are you serious?"

"That's not something she'd joke about," said Rude.

"Dark Roast for Reno, since he drinks it black," Reina continued. "Hazelnut for Rude, and Vanilla for me! And the smaller packets are chocolate-covered coffee beans." Cloud looked on, dumbfounded and temporarily forgotten.

"Umm, Reina? How can you tell all that from a packet that isn't even labeled?" Cloud asked incredulously.

"Because she  _knows_  her coffee," said Rude.

"Do you really love coffee that much?" he asked in disbelief.

"Aye!" Reno said, affectionately mocking Reina's brogue. A slight tinge of pink rose into her cheeks and she playfully punched his arm again.

"Stop it, lad, yer embarrassin' me!"

"Anyway," Rude broke in. "We need to be going. Thanks very much, Zana."

"Yes, thanks!" Reina said excitedly. Zana smiled at them and then turned to look at Reno.

"You're both welcome. And what do you think, Reno?"

"I take back every mean thing I ever said about you."

"That'll work."

* * *

Within minutes of taking flight, Zana had dozed off, her head leaning against the window and her breathing shallow and relaxed. She showed no sign of anxiety about either the height or speed of the chopper; she knew, idiot that he could sometimes be, that Reno was the best pilot the Turks had ever seen, and she trusted him to keep them safe. The swaying of the helicopter was gentle, hardly even noticeable to her, and it helped her fall even deeper into restful sleep.

"I don't know... how she can sleep here..." Cloud muttered, his face pale. Reina replied without even looking up from the book she was reading.

"She didn't sleep at all last night. The poor girl stayed up worryin' about you and sendin' us coordinates, and all the while she made trips back and forth to Othello to check on the delivery and such. She's a hard worker, that one." Cloud immediately thought of Tifa, who had probably stayed up all night with worry, too. At that moment Reno turned to avoid some passing aerial creature. Cloud felt his stomach lurch, and he groaned and closed his eyes as his face turned completely ashen. Reina closed her book and turned toward him, putting a steady hand on his shoulder.

"Are ye feelin' ill?" she asked gently. He started to nod but stopped as he realized that even such a slight motion made him feel even worse.

"A... A little-" He halted and fought back the urge to be sick, his breathing slow and shallow, and then continued. "Flying has always... made me sick..." Reina patted his shoulder sympathetically and smiled.

"We'll get ye fixed up, then. Not to worry, lad. Motion sickness is a pretty common problem." She reached up and tapped Rude's shoulder, since he couldn't hear her well, and pointed to a small blue box in the front of the cockpit. As Rude passed it back to her, Reno whipped around to smile apologetically at Cloud.

"Sorry, Buddy," he said over the noise of the blades. "I forgot you can't handle planes!" Cloud could feel his cheeks and ears reddening with embarrassment. He had never even told Tifa or the children about this particular weakness, and at this rate it was going to become common knowledge! Although, he wasn't sure that Zana would make fun of him for it even if she did find out. She reminded him so much of Zack, and Zack had been the only SOLDIER who  _hadn't_  teased him about his problem with air travel. The thought that she might be related to Zack somehow was too disconcerting to dwell on, though, so he focused on the more immediate problem - keeping his lunch where it belonged.

"Just take one o' these," Reina said, gently pressing a small tan capsule into his hand; he hadn't even seen her get it out of whatever container it had been in, so he had no idea what it was. "It's powdered ginger root. I found that it always worked great for me before I got used to ridin' in the chopper." Cloud slipped the capsule between his lips and swallowed it dry; drinking anything sounded extremely disgusting at the moment. Then he closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair as well as he could, and waited for the pill to work.

It wasn't very long before Cloud was fast asleep, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm and a peaceful expression on his face, which had finally regained its color. Reina looked on and smiled, pleased with her handiwork. The combination of ginger and sleeping powder in the pill was working fine; he would sleep through the rest of the flight, and maybe even more afterwards. It might make him groggy, but in her opinion he needed the rest anyway.

Reno listed to the right as he changed course slightly, and Cloud's body followed the angle, his head leaning on Zana's arm. She stirred, yawning and turning her head toward him, and then shrugged and went back to sleep. Why disturb him if he was finally resting? Reina chuckled to herself and reopened her book. This was going to be one quiet six-hour flight...


	6. Tension

"Cloud... Cloooud... C'mon, wake up..." Zana called softly. She gently shook him and tapped his cheeks, trying to bring him back from his dreams. "We're in Edge, Cloud. Wake up..." He blearily opened his eyes and yawned, blinking sleepily. He was too groggy to sit up at first, though, and fell back each time he tried. His body felt stiff after lying still for so long, and his wounds had begun to spread a dull, throbbing pain throughout his limbs.

"How long... Wash I slipping?" He mentally kicked himself for the slurred words, but he couldn't help it. He felt tired and disoriented, as if one thought could not fully connect to another.

"Six hours. You slept like a rock, just like me." She glared at Reina, deciding not to tell him the reason for his drowsiness or that he had been sleeping against  _her_. He seemed too easily embarrassed as it was. "Can you stand if I help you?" With a great deal of effort, Cloud managed to balance his weight over his legs, and Zana draped his good arm over her shoulders to help him stay standing.

"I'm still so sleepy..." he muttered. His vision was beginning to blur. Zana seemed unconcerned, and once again shot a sharp look at her red-headed friend.

"Let's just get you inside, and then you can rest for tonight." She walked him to the door of Seventh Heaven and knocked three times with the toe of her boot. She could hear hurried footsteps scurrying across the wooden floor inside, and then the door was flung wide as a woman and two children rushed forward to meet them. The children looked frightened; Denzel stood silently at Marlene's side as she hugged Cloud and tried not to cry. The young woman's face was tired and hard as stone.

"You had us worried, you know," Tifa said softly. Her eyes were swollen and bloodshot; she probably hadn't slept all night. "Didn't I tell you to be careful?" Cloud's expression was pained. He turned his gaze away from Tifa, unable to meet her eyes.

"I... I'm sorry, Tifa..." She sighed and brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear, and then shook her head and smiled.

"You never change, Cloud." She glanced down as something tugged on the hem of her shorts. Marlene looked pleadingly up at her, and then at Cloud.

"Is he okay, Tifa?" she asked timidly as she looked at the many rust-colored bandages covering Cloud's torso and head.

"He'll be alright, Sweetie," Tifa said gently. "He's going to need lots of rest, but he'll be alright." Marlene sobbed in relief and hugged Cloud tightly; she barely reached above his waist. After a moment, she and Denzel ran toward the stairs and looked back excitedly at Tifa and the Turks, who had filed in behind Zana.

"Cloud, you're coming upstairs, right? Denzel and I can get your room ready!" Denzel followed her without a word. Zana cleared her throat softly, and Tifa seemed to notice her for the first time.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said distractedly. "I'm Tifa Lockhart. I run this bar. Umm... You must be the one Reno told me he was sending out. Could I ask your name?"

"Zira. Zana Zira." Tifa's eyes widened a fraction of an inch, and she eyed Zana's uniform coldly.

"...You're a SOLDIER?" It was more a statement than a question; her tone was pure ice. Zana was more than a little irked, but she decided to play along, anyway.

"I'm a First-Class, yes."

"I see," Tifa said without looking at Zana. "Well, I think I can take it from-"

"I'm fine. He's not heavy," Zana replied, stepping forward with Cloud's arm still draped over her shoulders. "If you'd just be so kind as to tell me where his room is..."

"Upstairs and to the left."

"Thanks," Zana said flatly. She ascended the stairs to the apartment area above the bar and strode into a plain room near the staircase. The decorations were simple: two twin beds on either side of a small table, one wide window overlooking Edge, and an oak desk and chair. A small cordless phone and a photograph of Cloud, Tifa, and the two children sat on top of the desk; Cloud, of course, stood back a bit and was the only one who was not smiling. Zana helped Cloud sit down on the bed and stepped back, allowing the children to play nurse a little as they covered him up and straightened his bed. She waited with them for a few moments until he was asleep, and then turned to leave. She was intercepted by Tifa just before she reached the stairs.

"Can I be of any more service, Miss Lockhart?" she asked cordially, unsettled by the iciness still showing in Tifa's eyes. "Actually, perhaps I would be better off leaving, since you insist on pretending you don't remember me... _Tifa_." Tifa flinched but quickly regained her composure.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I only wanted to thank you for taking care of Cloud, and saving his life, from what Reno told me. I didn't know the Turks were sending you until it was too late, or I would have told them not-" She halted mid-sentence, too late to stop the slip. Zana's eyes, when she looked into them nervously, were frigid.

"Don't know what I'm talking about, huh?"

"No, I don't." Zana grabbed the younger woman by the shoulders, her fingernails digging in painfully, and stared into her eyes.

"Yes. You. Do," she hissed. She was about to continue when the alert chime on her phone rang out, filling the once deathly-silent hall with startling sound. Zana glared at Tifa, and then sighed and reached into her pocket for the phone. She read the caller I.D. and groaned before flipping it open.

"This is Zira," she answered.

"Zana," Tseng growled from the other end, "where in the world are you?!"

"Sir!" she answered respectfully. "I'm at the Seventh Heaven Bar in Edge."

"Well get over here immediately! There are monsters in numbers you wouldn't believe trying to get through Midgar Sector Eight! There's no time to waste!"

"Yes, sir!" She closed her phone and directed her piercing gaze to Tifa's tired eyes, her lips pulled into a thin, tight line. "We'll finish this another time." She leapt over the stairs to the floor below in one easy bound. "Count on it."


	7. Realization

When Tseng had said there were unbelievable numbers of monsters in Sector Eight, he hadn't been exaggerating. Although Midgar and Sector Eight, one of its busiest residential districts, had been abandoned for three years, it now looked as if the area had been repopulated in the worst possible way. Bomb monsters floated through the air and chased one another in a fiery game of tag, occasionally grinning and twirling around when the pursuer accidentally exploded. A Basilisk curled itself around an old fountain, guarding its nest within and hissing at any monster that came too close. Around its scaly coils lay a few unmoving monsters, stiff as statues - those unlucky enough to have looked into its eyes. The whole hideous army hissed and growled at the approach of the Turks.

"Gods above!" Reina gasped. "Jus' look at all of 'em! How many d'ye think there are?"

"Hundreds," said Rude.

"Maybe even thousands," Elena muttered, nervously running her fingers back through her short blonde hair.

"Where in the world is Zana?" Tseng growled as he loaded his rifle and pistol.

"Who cares?" Reno scoffed. "I can handle anything she-" He was stopped as one of the large serpents coiled around his legs and torso, knocking him to the ground. It immediately tightened around his arms, making it impossible to reach his gun or electric nightstick. "Oh, pfit!" he shouted through the tail muffling his mouth. "Rude! Hrp meh!"

A long silver object suddenly twirled through the air toward him, cleanly beheading the Basilisk before sticking into the cement with a sharp metallic scratch. The beast's limp body slid down into a heap around Reno's feet, and he sighed, relieved to be able to breathe again. A spiky-haired silhouette slid through the darkness like a ghost, blue eyes glowing like a cat's. Effortlessly and soundlessly, Zana sprang over the snapping jaws of the creatures and landed beside her red-headed comrade, tugging her broadsword loose from the ground and inspecting it for damage. Finding none, she wiped it on the Basilisk's carcass to clean off the blood and returned it to its sheath.

"'I can handle anything she can,' huh?" Zana asked with a gloating grin at Reno.

"Good to see ye, Lass!" Reina shouted as she shot down another of the monsters. "I was beginnin' to worry!" Zana grinned in response.

"Tseng, sir!" she called. He continued shooting his rifle as he yelled back.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Ya want me fighting Turk- or SOLDIER-style tonight?"

"Whatever you want, just get going!"

"Oooh, yeah!" She redrew her blade and assumed a fighting stance. "Party time!" She dove headlong into the fray, sword in hand, hacking and slashing at the monsters as the Turks fired bullets all around her. One by one, the monsters began to fall, their lifeless bodies littering the street and their blood making the brick roads treacherously slick. Zana could feel the blood pulsing through her veins as her excited heart raced. These were the times when she felt most alive.

"Duck, Zana!" Elena shouted.

"What did you - AAAAGH!" Zana cried as a Behemoth, a large monster resembling a demonic bull, swung its head sideways and sent her flying with one of its enormous horns. Her momentum was so great that Rude, in an attempt to catch her, was knocked to the ground with her on top of him. He helped her to stand and adjusted his glasses calmly.

"You alright, Zana?" he asked, already sure of the answer.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks, Rude, I owe you one!" He shook his head and pointed back to the Behemoth.

"Maybe not. Look." Zana followed his gaze and gasped in horror; the creature had her sword in its mouth, trying to gnaw it in two. She could hear the screech like nails on a blackboard as the metal strained, threatening to break under the pressure.

"Ah-ah-AAAAH!" she yelled angrily, sprinting back toward it with two pistols she had just grabbed from Rude. "Don't you do it! Don't you DARE do-" The Behemoth growled and bit down hard, and the sword shattered; little pieces of steel rained down to the ground with a sound like broken glass. Zana screeched to a halt, chest puffed out angrily and eyes blazing, and pulled a red, rounded crystal sphere from one pocket of her baggy black pants. It clicked easily into one of the holes in her steel bangle, glowing the color of blood. The pistols lay temporarily forgotten where she had dropped them.

"NOW YOU'VE DONE IT!" she screeched, flexing her wrist as a cloud of red energy swirled around her right hand. She inhaled deeply, and then unleashed the spell. "FIRAGA!" The Behemoth's body was completely engulfed in red-gold flame; in no time at all, it was reduced to a pile of ashes and bones. Zana retrieved her handguns and began to open fire on any monster in range, careful not to hit any of her comrades in the process.

"Reno! Reina!" Tseng shouted. "Guns aren't going to be enough for all of them. Use your special weapons!" The two of them nodded and retrieved their weapons of choice; Reno used his electric nightstick, and Reina used a combination spear and scythe she called "The Novena." Its seven-foot length was carved out of sturdy wood from ancient oak trees, tipped on one end by a two-foot-long mythril scythe and on the other by a spear made of nearly unbreakable diamond. The inside had been hollowed out and filled with a tube of mythril to keep it from ever breaking, and the tube flowered out around the spear to cup the base of the diamond. Hand-holds had been carved out at either end and the center of the handle, and they were covered in solid gold, which was also threaded through the natural cracks in the wood to reinforce it. But for all its beauty, the Novena was a perfectly engineered killing weapon, and Reina had fully mastered it.

"Hee-yah!" Reina shouted as she twirled it lightly above her head, easily beheading or cutting the throats of many of the taller monsters. Her clothes were drenched in blood, but she hardly cared. As the other four continued to fire their guns upon the herd of demons, she and Reno dodged between the falling bodies and added to the fatality number. Electricity flowed outward from Reno's baton, and he swung it like a whip; the electricity cut through the skin of even the toughest monsters like hot metal through ice. They made a great team; every time he was surrounded a little too close for comfort, a few quick swings of the Novena opened a space, while the electricity from his baton easily clipped the wings of the birds or the feet of the beasts. Within a few minutes, the tag-team had made amazing headway.

"Bring it, ye fecking eejits!" Reina screamed excitedly. "I'll bleedin' burst ye!" Her brogue always became especially prominent when she experienced high emotion, sometimes to the point that even the other Turks could barely understand her. Now was one of those times. She dodged and ducked easily between enormous creatures, shouting slang she had learned in Alethía, a land far to the north of Midgar where she had lived until she was thirteen. Zana snickered; sometimes Reina really did sound like an angry version of Cait Sith.

"Look at the lot of ye, runnin' around like blue-arsed flies!" Reina taunted. "Yer as slow as a wet week!" She turned to Zana and Reno and shouted, "Hurry up an' clatter the feckers, lads, before they get brassed off!"

"Uh... Come again?" Reno shouted back. Reina sighed, switching back to somewhat recognizable language with visible effort.

"Look at Zana, lad!" she said, pointing to the SOLDIER who was already running back into the fray. "She's already away; she understands!"

"Well, I don't!" Reina rolled her eyes in frustration.

"Och! I love ye dearly, Reno, but ye really can make me fit to be tied! Kill them, I'm sayin'. Kill them!" Elena chuckled at them, but Reina chose to ignore her.

"Now that, I understand!" Reno said with a smirk. "Let's do this!"

* * *

It was not long before only the five Turks and the SOLDIER stood in the empty, blood-spattered Loveless Avenue, wiping gore from their clothes and weapons and panting like dogs. Tseng brushed his wet, matted black hair back over his shoulders and surveyed the area, now totally free of any living creatures besides the humans. Elena and Rude stood statue-still, awaiting their cue to leave, and Reina gave Reno a quick peck on the cheek, wrinkling her nose and spitting on the ground after ending up with monster blood in her mouth. He laughed and patted her head affectionately.

Zana strode into the center of the plaza, lifting her broken blade from a pool of blood near the old stone fountain. It was ruined, cracked everywhere and snapped off to the hilt; the shards lay scattered around her feet, but they were completely useless now. She sighed dejectedly and tossed the broken handle into the fountain.

"Man!" she whined. "That was my last good sword!" She suddenly felt the wear of the last few sleepless days settle over her, and she trudged over to the others with weary, heavy steps.

"Good job, everyone," Tseng said.

"Sir!" they all replied.

"Mission successful," he continued. "You're now free to do as you please. However, I would like to invite all of you - once we're all cleaned up, of course - to come and have a celebratory drink at Seventh Heaven. My treat." The others grinned, and Reno pumped his fist up in the air.

"All right! Drinks on Tseng! Bring 'em on! Woohoo!" he shouted ecstatically. Reina glowered at him and extended her open palm to him.

"Aren't ye forgettin' somethin'?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Reno reached into his coat pocket and dropped a set of keys into her palm. "Better?" She smiled.

"Much." Zana shook her head and sighed, remembering the time Reno had tried to fly a helicopter drunk. It was something she was sure she would never forget.

"Zana, aren't you coming?" Elena asked as they all began to leave.

"Not tonight, guys. I don't feel all that well." Rude's eyebrows came together worriedly.

"You're not getting sick, are you?" She shook her head again.

"Nah, I'm just tired. I haven't slept in three days except for what I got on the helicopter today." Tseng nodded understandingly.

"Then get some sleep. We need you rested and alert."

"Thanks, sir. Bye, guys!"

"Slán agat, Zana!" Reina called to her friend. Zana smiled.

"Slán leat, Reina!"

* * *

After Zana had showered and thrown her filthy uniform in the wash, she slipped into a pair of midnight blue silk pajamas and sat down on the edge of her bed, combing the knots out of her unruly black hair. "Yeesh, why in the  _world_  did I choose this haircut?" she griped to herself as she worked out yet another painful tangle. She was exhausted and confused, and for some reason she could not get Cloud Strife's face out of her mind... Why was that? What was it about him that was so intriguing? He was attractive, sure, but so were almost all of the men she worked with, and several she didn't, so that couldn't be it; they never plagued her thoughts like this long after they had gone away from her. It was something else, something very familiar... What on Gaia  _was_  it?

The realization hit her like a freight train - the reason his face had looked so familiar. She leaped up and rummaged through the drawers of her desk, finally finding the small picture she had tucked away in a back corner of the smallest drawer. The picture was beginning to fade from being carried around with her for many years, but she could still make out all of its details. There were four people in the picture: one was a young man with choppy black hair and an X-shaped scar on his left cheek, making a peace sign into the camera; he stood between a tall, silver-haired man and a young girl dressed in a cowboy hat, midriff shirt and miniskirt. And just barely noticeable, his face hidden under a Shin-Ra infantry helmet, was a younger version of the man she had been thinking about all day. Tears welled in her eyes, and she dropped the picture as her knees lost the strength to hold her up.

"He's the one!" she wailed with her face in her hands. "He's been here all this time! Oh, gods, it's him!"


	8. In the Hot Seat

Cloud awakened just before sunrise the next morning. The sky outside his window was tinged with colors like a roaring fire, but the breeze flowing in through the open window was brisk and chilly. He could smell ice on it, too; a frost was not far off. Turning his head on the soft pillow, Cloud allowed his sapphire-blue eyes to scan the room, which seemed unusually still. His gaze rested on the empty bed a few feet from his, already neatly made; Tifa, it seemed, was already awake. Her location became obvious as the scents of coffee and frying eggs wafted up to him from the kitchen below. He suddenly remembered that he hadn't eaten since Zana Zira had cooked for him two nights ago, and he was ravenous.

First things, first, though: he had to get out of this bed. He kicked the blankets off and tested his leg muscles; so far, so good – he was strong enough to move around in the bed, at least. The cold air gave him more energy as it chilled his bare chest and arms. Old gauze stained the color of rust hung loose around his healing wounds, and he could still smell the fresh, clean tang of gysahl gel on his skin. He groaned as he sat himself up against the pillows at the head of the bed. He only had the use of his left arm, and his broken ribs were still making him stiff and sore, although he was in much less pain than he had been the day before. Taking a deep, steady breath, he swung his feet over the edge of the bed and onto the floor before slowly straightening his knees. It made him slightly lightheaded, but at least it was progress.

A wave of fatigue hit him suddenly, and he leaned heavily against the wall, panting and trembling as he waited for the vertigo to pass. His legs felt as shaky as gelatin, and he was afraid he would fall on his face if he dared to move away from the wall. He mentally cursed his stubborn pride, for it meant he was too embarrassed to ask Tifa for help.

"This is ridiculous!" he muttered. "You're stronger than this, Strife. This should be a piece of cake." He took a calming breath, then, and refocused on his aching body. "I just have to reach the shower. That's all I have to do…" He slowly pried himself away from the wall and stepped toward the door. His knees were shaking and unsteady, but he managed to make it through the door and into the hallway before stopping to catch his breath.

This was beginning to seem like a daunting task. He may not have been mortally wounded, but he was definitely more than a little bruised. He could feel sweat beading on his brow as he focused on calming his unsteady breaths; the room was spinning around him. Just a few feet… The bathroom was just a few feet away… Instead of focusing on himself, he focused on the soles of his boots, which had somehow been left on when he slept. One tap against the floor. Now another. Another. Another…

He gripped the door frame of the bathroom and staggered inside, sighing in relief. He opened the small cabinet under the sink, removing one of the many clean towels Tifa always had ready for them. Everything was neatly in place, as always; when did Tifa ever find time to sleep? Suddenly Cloud groaned as he realized his real challenge hadn't even begun; he still had to stay standing long enough to actually clean himself.

"Son of Jenova…" He sighed again. "This ought to be interesting."

* * *

Cloud finally made it to the kitchen table nearly forty-five minutes later. Showering had taken thirty minutes instead of his usual five, and it had taken more effort than he had thought possible to get dressed and make it down the stairs. To keep his freshly laundered outfit from getting bloodstains on it for at least a day or two, he had instead put on a simple black cotton sweater and black slacks. He looked so unusual in common clothes that Tifa and the children did a double-take as he entered the room.

"U-um… Cloud," Tifa stammered, surprised to see him moving about on his own already. "Good morning!" He nodded and smiled ever so slightly in response.

"Do you feel any better today?" Marlene asked, concern evident on her young face. "You were too sleepy to even talk to us yesterday."

"I'm still pretty sore, but I'm much better today, Marlene. Thank you," he said softly. Tifa handed him a plate and a platter of eggs, toast, and bacon. She poured coffee into a mug for him as he filled his plate with a generous helping of the food. When she started to add sugar and cream as usual, he shook his head and gently took the mug from her. "Thanks, but I'll drink it black today."

"Whatever you want," Tifa said dismissively. "I don't see how you can stand to drink it like that, though." She passed the platter to Denzel, who took a few eggs and sat munching thoughtfully on a slice of toast. Cloud stared down as he ate, taking a few sips of coffee every now and then. The room was awkwardly quiet. Finally, Denzel decided to break the silence.

"So… Cloud?"

"Hmm?"

"How did the delivery go?" Cloud could tell by the look on the young boy's face that this was not what he really wanted to ask, but he played along anyway.

"Fine, I guess. I didn't actually finish it myself."

"Who did, then?" Marlene piped up.

"The woman you saw yesterday, Zana Zira." Denzel cocked his head inquisitively.

"Who is she, though?"

"She works for the Turks now, but she used to be part of SOLDIER."

"Did you know her when you worked for Shin-Ra?"

"No, I had never met her before. She must have joined during the five years after I left." A dark look quickly passed over Tifa's face, but it was gone before he could question her about it.

"Denzel, Marlene," said Tifa. "She saved Cloud's life when some Sincanus attacked him. We owe her a lot." Cloud could hear something strange beneath Tifa's calm tone, but he still could not understand why.

"I thought she was pretty," Marlene said innocently. "Do you think she's pretty, Cloud?" His eyes widened a fraction of an inch, and he suddenly felt heat rising in his face and neck.

"I-I… I didn't really look that closely at her, so I don't really know i-if –"

"Oh, so you do!" Marlene teased happily. "Your face is all red!" Cloud had to force himself to resist touching his face self-consciously.

"Well, maybe she – I don't know," he stammered quietly. "More than anything, she kind of reminded me of one of my friends from SOLDIER, and I think he'd laugh at me if I said someone like him was pretty."

"How did she remind you of your friend?" Denzel prodded.

"I… I don't know… She just did…" Tifa cleared her throat loudly.

"You two just eat your breakfast and leave Cloud alone," she scolded. "He's gone through enough in the last few days without having to worry about some stranger from SOLDIER."

"Okay…" they said in unison, returning to their food. Cloud shot Tifa a grateful look over the top of his coffee mug, but for some reason she avoided his eyes and glared down at her own plate in sullen silence. Something was definitely not right here…

After eating the rest of their breakfast in a heavy silence, the children ran upstairs to change into their day clothes while Tifa began clearing the table. Cloud extended his good arm to help her, but she simply snatched the plates from under his fingers and continued to ignore him. Now he was beginning to worry.

"Tifa?" he began quietly. Silence. "Do you want me to help –"

"No." She turned her back to him and strode into the kitchen with quick, haughty steps. Cloud anxiously followed her, ignoring the discomfort it caused him. As she started running hot water to fill the sink, he stepped up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, but she flinched and pulled away.

"Tifa!" he said in exasperation. "If you're going to be angry with me, could you at least tell me why?" She growled and glared daggers at him, but relented.

"How could you betray me like that, Cloud?"

"Betray – What are you talking about?"

"The way you act when they talk about that Zana – it sickens me!" she snapped, slamming her palm against the countertop. "For someone who supposedly hates Shin-Ra so much, you sure do seem attached to her all of a sudden."

"Who cares? She seems about as normal as any SOLDIER can expect to be. And we're friends with the Turks now, too, right?"

"You barely even know her, Cloud!" He crossed his arms and glared at her; there was something else going on here, and it was really beginning to annoy him.

"And I suppose you know all her dirty little secrets, then?"

"I know a hell of a lot more of them than you do!"

"Yeah? And how did you learn so much about her, huh?" Tifa's face paled when she realized she had revealed too much. She hurriedly changed the subject.

"What did you say to her about me, Cloud?"

"What? That's not what I was ask –"

"What did you say to her about me?"

"Nothing," Cloud said earnestly, holding his hands up in a pacifying gesture. "I didn't tell her anything. I didn't really talk to her much anyway, but –" He suddenly froze, taken aback by the look in Tifa's eyes. He realized, then, too late, that he had said exactly the wrong thing.

"Nothing?" she whispered, fighting back the tears welling up in her eyes. "Nothing? Not that we live together, or saved the planet together, or are raising two children together, or have, oh, I don't know… BEEN FRIENDS FOR TWENTY DAMN YEARS?!" Cloud tried to appease her as quickly as he could, knowing she was very dangerous on the rare occasions she got this angry.

"Tifa, I'm sorry, that's not what I meant," he said hurriedly, trying to take her hand in his.

"No!" she shouted, slapping his face and whirling away from him; he grunted and stepped back, stunned but not truly hurt. "I don't care what you  _meant_ , what matters is what you  _said_! If I'm such a  _nothing_  to you, then just stay away from me! Apparently I'm not good enough for you to remember anyway!" Before Cloud had a chance to react, she had grabbed her purse and stormed out the front door, slamming it loudly behind her. Cloud looked on silently, laying his head against the wall with a groan.

"How in the world do I get out of this one?"


	9. Encouragement

Zana walked down the streets of Edge in a daze, too overcome by her own confusion and fear to care where she was going. Her feet seemed to move of their own accord; her eyes, although open, saw nothing. The realization that Cloud Strife had been the boy in the photo, the one she had been seeking for the last nine years, had been almost too much for her to take in. Her dreams had been filled with the glaring faces of her parents and the Turks; Zack stared down on her in disappointment as she tried to apologize to him, and yet no words would come out. Cloud Strife. He was the one she had been trying to find for so long, the one who could explain what had really happened to Zack all those years ago. But would he be willing to talk to her if he knew who she really was? Would he ever look at her with kindness in his eyes again?

"What do I do?" she whispered, on the verge of tears as she looked skyward. "Oh, Gaia, what do I do?"

As soon as the words left her lips, the world around her melted away, replaced instead by an endless white light. Delicate golden and cream-colored flowers grew in thick patches around her feet; they were sweet-smelling and earthy. Fallen flower petals danced around her and her hair was tossed by a gentle breeze she could not feel against her skin. This place, wherever it was, was soothing. Her mind felt calmer, and her body was suddenly warm.

A tall figure appeared out of the light, silently striding toward her on long legs. His deep blue eyes danced with laughter above a kind smile, and the whole picture was framed by a shock of choppy raven-colored hair. An X-shaped scar adorned his left cheek, and an enormous broadsword was strapped to his strong back, making him look even more dignified in his black SOLDIER uniform.

When he reached her, Zack said nothing, instead extending a hand and wiping a tear from her cheek. Zana hadn't even noticed she was crying. He shook his head, smiling at her before wrapping his arms around her in a strong hug as she buried her face in his shirt and wept.

"What is it?" he asked gently, patting her head and holding her tighter. "It's been four years I've been gone, and you've never called me here before. You must really need me, huh?" Zana did not answer him, but her sobbing eased a little. "It's alright. You can tell me if it's my fault. I know it was really hard on you when I returned to the Lifestream." Zana looked up at him, her eyes brimming with unshed tears, and it was almost like looking into the past.

"No…" she whispered, shaking her head. "No. It's not… I just… I miss you…" Zack smiled and closed his eyes, blinking away tears of his own.

"I miss you, too, Zana. I'll always miss you, and everyone. But look at you! You're so grown-up now!" He held up a piece of her long, spiky black hair with a chuckle. "Why'd you cut your hair like that? It was so pretty when it was long."

"Don't be silly!" Zana smirked as she gently punched his arm. "You already know why. I did it for the same reason you did – to honor a mentor."

"Oh, so now I'm your brother  _and_  your mentor? Man, if only you coulda said  _that_  in front of Mom and Dad. They probably would've died laughing when they thought of  _me_  as someone's mentor!" He faltered, then, his face sobering. "But that's not the reason you're here, is it?"

"So you think you get it?"

"I'm your older brother – it's my job to know things before you do. So, let me guess: you're crushing on Spiky." Zana blushed a little, giving Zack an impatient snort.

"Zack, I'm twenty-five. I do not  _crush on_  anyone." He laughed and ruffled her hair, like he used to do when they were young.

"Okay, okay. Anyway, you like him, huh?" The glint in his eyes said he already knew the answer.

"I think so, yes."

"So then what's the problem?"

"Well, I'm afraid if he finds out that I knew you and didn't say anything –"

"Eh, don't worry about all that. He's a little broodier than he used to be, but he's still the same old Cloud underneath. He'll be as happy to learn everything as you will. Just be a good friend to him, and he'll be one to you, too. At least that's how it worked out for me." Zana cast her eyes downward, afraid to ask the next question she had had on her mind for almost five years.

"So, Zack… Cloud… He didn't take you away from us, did he? You didn't die… because of him?" Zack's eyes widened, and he took both of Zana's hands in his and held them there firmly.

"Zana, look at me," he said sternly. She did, and he stared into her eyes with fierce, piercing clarity. "Don't you worry about that one bit, you hear me? No matter what anyone may have told you, Mom and Dad especially - they hated ShinRa, and the idea that I died to save someone who was part of ShinRa. Cloud was the best friend I had in this world. My time here was up, and I gave my life so he could live his a little longer. Understand? And someday, I was hoping to introduce you two."

"You were?"

"Yep. He's my living legacy, Zana. But more than that, I think you two would really hit it off if you gave yourselves the chance. He's really the one who's gonna have a tough time of it, but still, if you give him a little patience and accept the fact that he's dealing with a lot of demons, I think you two could become inseparable." Suddenly Zack's form became clouded, and his voice began to die away. A pair of white wings furled out behind his back, and his face was calm and peaceful.

"Zack! Zack, don't go!" Zana cried, reaching out for him in vain. The flowers were vanishing, and the shapes of buildings were dirtying the pure white light around him. As quickly as it had come, the peaceful garden vanished, and she was standing in the dirty, empty streets of Edge once again. No time had passed; her feet still kept walking until she realized it and halted. She sighed and looked mournfully up at the perpetually gray sky. "Zack…"

A high-pitched scream interrupted her reverie. Whirling around in a quick about-face, she scanned the streets for the source of the disturbance. The sound of panicked shouting and rapid, stumbling footfalls built to a deafening roar; so far, though, even her mako-enhanced vision was not able to see anything beyond the miles of steel in all directions. A cold glint of anticipation shone in the SOLDIER's icy eyes, making them stand out like a blue moon in a starless sky. All at once, a river of people burst out from between the buildings like a waterfall over a dam, shouting and cursing and nearly trampling one another in their attempts to flee. Most were adults, but from where Zana stood she could see two young children being forced along in the tide of frantic bodies; one was a little girl with a gray dress and a pink ribbon in her long brown hair, and the other was a boy not much older than her with sandy-brown hair and frightened eyes.

Zana's breath caught in her chest when she realized just what their pursuer was. Not far behind the mob was a large, black creature with a hooked tail and strangely elongated snout, its jaws dangerously close to snapping distance. A Shadow Creeper. Without a moment's hesitation, Zana leapt toward the beast, her eyes flashing and the bangle around her wrist glowing orange. She recognized the two young ones as Cloud's children, Denzel and Marlene. Now this was personal. Her long legs carried her in enormous, sprinting bounds toward the children, and she reached out a hand to grab them.

Mere fractions of a second before she reached them, the Shadow Creeper sprang. Marlene, younger and not as fast, saw it coming and pushed Denzel out of the way; he landed heavily against the asphalt, dazed but unharmed. Marlene, however, was not so fortunate – the hideous beast's jaws caught her around the chest, shaking her as it continued to run amok.

"No!" Zana shouted at Denzel as he attempted to follow them. She breezed past him and continued in hot pursuit. "Leave it to me! Stay here and stay hidden!" Denzel obeyed; Zana's presence was confident and intimidating, and he somehow trusted her to take care of it. She sprang for the tail of the beast and held on tight – the sharp, cutting tip of the appendage ripped deep into the flesh of her hip, and she hissed in pain but did not release her grip. The materia-filled bangle was shining in a trio of red, blue, and gold lights.

"FIRAGA-THUNDAGA-BLIZZAGA!" she shouted as the spells were released. The Shadow Creeper roared and dropped Marlene, trying to bite Zana as it lashed out in pain with its tail. She dropped easily to the ground and dodged its flailing body, sighing tiredly as its body dissolved into a river of Lifestream-bound energy. This simple task completed, she strode over to attend to Marlene. The little girl was dazed and had a few scrapes but was otherwise unhurt. Smiling gently, Zana knelt down and scooped Marlene into her arms, holding her tightly. Denzel was not far behind, and he looked worriedly between Marlene and Zana.

"Th-thank… you…" Marlene whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. She broke into sobs and laid her head against Zana's shoulder, weeping in both fear and relief. Zana just hugged her tighter and stroked her hair, gently rocking her and trying to console her.

"Shh…" she crooned. "It's alright, Sweetie. It's gone now, you'll be safe." Marlene looked up at her with shiny, fearful eyes.

"W-we… We were…" She couldn't finish the sentence; she was still too shaken. Zana turned an inquisitive eye to Denzel.

"We went looking for Tifa," he finished. "She left in a hurry, and we thought she sounded really angry, so we wanted to help…"

"Angry? At you and Marlene?"

"No. At Cloud." Zana felt her pulse quicken at the mention of the blond's name and hoped Marlene could not feel it.

"I see. Why was she mad at him?"

"…"

"You don't know?"

"Well, it's… He…" Denzel tried unsuccessfully to explain.

"It's because," Marlene said hesitantly, "he likes you. But Tifa doesn't like that he likes you." Zana blinked several times, taken aback.

"Likes… me?"

"Yeah," Marlene said with an innocent smile. "At least I think he does. He gets all red whenever–"

"Shh, Marlene!" Denzel hissed. "I don't think he'd like us talking about that!"

"Oops! Um, Miss Zana? Is that your name?"

"Yes."

"Don't tell Cloud I told you, okay? He'll get mad." Zana smiled brightly.

"I can't really imagine him getting mad, but alright. We'll keep this our little secret. By the way, does Cloud know you're gone?" Both of the kids' faces fell a little.

"W-well, by now, maybe…"

"That's what I thought." Ignoring the bleeding gash in her side for the moment, Zana took their hands and set off for Seventh Heaven. "Let's get you two home."


	10. Signs of Unrest

"Ow. Ow!  _OW_!" Zana grunted as Rude stitched up the ten-inch gash that ran an inch deep from her right hip down the front of her thigh. She was mildly afraid of needles, even after all of the mako injections she had received, so she was griping at Rude in an attempt to distract herself. "Dammit, Rude, that hurts! You're sewing up a person, not an old blanket! Be gentle!" Rude grimaced apologetically but did not say anything. Zana was a pretty modest person, but she wasn't embarrassed to let him see that much of her body; he was always entirely professional, and she knew he would never dream of even  _thinking_  anything inappropriate while he was on-duty. Reno, on the other hand…

The redhead in question chuckled from his seat on the other side of the room in Healin Lodge that served as their infirmary; all of the Turks and Rufus ShinRa had decided to meet there so that they could discuss the Shadow Creeper attack while Zana's wounds were treated. The Turks' official doctor, though, was a recent K.I.A., leaving the minor or temporary fixes to senior agents like Tseng and Rude.

"Pretty careless, Zana," Rufus said from his seat in the corner of the room, not looking at her out of respect. "Usually you wouldn't allow yourself to get injured so badly by just one monster."

"Hn," she grunted as the needle pierced her skin again. "There – unh! – wasn't a lot – of time. The stupid – nn – thing – was getting away with – the girl."

"Understandable," said Tseng, running his fingers back through his hair with a tired sigh. "And I suppose since your replacement blade is still being forged and Materia isn't your weapon of choice, perhaps it wasn't as careless as we initially thought."

"O' course it wasn't!" said Reina, indignant for her friend. "She's a SOLDIER; she knows combat better than any o' us!"

"Exactly," Rufus countered. "So mistakes in battle should be even less common for her than they are for all of you."

"With all due respect, Sir," Elena cut in. "Shouldn't we get back to discussing the problem at hand? There are monsters returning to Midgar now. There haven't been any here since Meteor, but even before that they weren't living here in numbers like they are now. So what's changed?"

"Ya think it's just a fluke?" Reno asked lazily. Rude shook his head, sunglasses flashing under the fluorescent lights of the room.

"Doubt it," he said quietly. "The ones in Sector Eight might have seemed like a natural increase, since it's abandoned, but Shadow Creepers aren't native to anywhere near here. Had to be a summon."

"Those were my thoughts exactly," Tseng said calmly, choosing not to comment on his surprise that Rude had spoken more than one sentence at a time. "Which is precisely why I asked Tifa to call on a few old friends across the continent to check things out elsewhere."

"Like who?" asked Reno.

"An ex-Turk, an airship mechanic, and an oil prospector, to name a few." Zana was puzzled; she and Reina had never worked with anyone outside of their organization besides Cloud and Tifa, so they had no idea who Tseng was talking about.

"Care to clarify a bit, Sir?"

"Vincent Valentine: ex-Turk and the best sharpshooter I've ever seen; Cid Highwind: airship mechanic and pilot; Barret Wallace: oil prospector and former leader of AVALANCHE," Tseng replied coolly.

"Valentine?" Reina asked excitedly. "The Turk legend? Yer havin' me on, surely!"

"No, he's serious," said Elena. "He's been living in Kalm for a while, with Yuffie Kisaragi, but he still drops by Edge from time to time."

"Have I met him before?" asked Zana. Rude shook his head.

"You'd remember him if you had," said Reno. "He looks like death walking even when he's healthy. Creepy as hell, but a real decent guy. But you were in Gongaga visiting your old man when he was here last year, so ya missed him."

"Oh, so he was here to help you all fight Kadaj?" she asked before snorting and rolling her eyes. "Damn! The one time I decide to go home in nine years and I miss all the fun!" She paused, thinking. "But, Reina, that would mean you met him, right? You were here then."

"No, Lass, I haven't. I was busy protectin' Reeve Tuesti during that battle so he could watch over Cait Sith. I wish I coulda, though. I think every Turk dreams o' bein' jus' like him." Reno shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"Heeyyy, what about me?" he asked jealously.

"What  _about_  you?" Reina repeated nonchalantly. "I don' have to wanna be like you to love ya, Lad! And I do love you, so isn't that enough?" She leaned over and kissed his cheek affectionately. "No one but you, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, alright," he drawled, blushing and rolling his eyes a little. "I know you do, okay? But it still makes my skin crawl to see you start drooling over a man you don't even know."

That comment stung Zana almost as much as the alcohol Rude was rubbing onto the stitched-up wound. Her heart began to race again as she thought of the man, no more than a few miles away, whose icy eyes could send shivers down her spine with a single, passing glance. Who she didn't really know the first thing about. Zack had said he was his best friend, but why? What made him so special? And suddenly, she realized she wanted to know more – had to know more – about this person her brother had deemed worthy of becoming his living legacy. Cloud Strife – just who  _was_  he?

"We're drifting off-topic here," Rufus said calmly, bringing everyone's attention back to him. "We know there's something going on to trigger the increase in monsters, and someone pulling the strings behind the Shadow Creeper attack. But what could it all mean?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Tseng answered. "We haven't heard back from our other sources yet, but we'll start researching immediately. If the monsters are only increasing around Midgar, then the most likely answer is someone with an agenda against ShinRa, wanting to destroy Edge and frighten the people to spread a message. So, the best place to start looking –" He was cut off when his cell phone started ringing shrilly from inside his coat pocket. With a sigh, he retrieved it, eyes widening when he saw the caller-I.D. "This is Tseng," he answered curtly. "Yes. Yes. When? How long has it been since – I see. Good. No. Thank you, we'll be there soon." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and feeling a headache coming on.

"What is it, yo?" Reno asked, stretching in his chair and yawning.

"I think we may have our first clue for who's been causing all this trouble. That was Reeve. He just called to say that the vault where we were keeping all of our information on Kadaj and his cohorts has been broken into. All of the cameras were smashed, the records are gone, and Souba… someone has taken Kadaj's blade."

"We can still see whatever the cameras recorded before they were destroyed," Rufus answered calmly. "The video feed is recorded instantly on my laptop, so we can easily retrieve it."

"That won't work, Sir," Tseng said tiredly. "Reeve already tried. Whoever it was destroyed the cameras when the room was still entirely dark; apparently their vision was enhanced. By the time the guards came in and turned the lights on, it was too late."

"I see. Well, did anyone get a look at what the thief looked like?"

"Well, that's just it, Sir…" Tseng said hesitantly. "By the time Reeve got to the ground floor, whoever it was had disappeared, and every last guard had been murdered. The only thing he found… were two parallel slices on each of their torsos… and a single, long strand of silver hair."


	11. Gongagan Roses

Cloud was as motionless as the many flowerpots surrounding his seat on the windowsill. His body was relaxed; his back, bare except for the bandages around his ribs, rested against the wooden frame that creaked softly with every breath he took. The moon, as it tended to be in early October, was full and round; its empty light provided peace, but no warmth. The sky above was awash with stars, and gentle, wispy clouds floated across the moon in strange shapes and intervals, like little dancing shadows.

Cloud sighed as a chill breeze tossed his unruly hair. Like almost every night, he could not sleep; there was always too much to think about, no matter how much he tried not to. To make matters worse, today had been very unsettling. Tifa was still not talking to him; her only response to his greeting when she returned had been to sniff haughtily and walk past him. This would not have bothered him if not for the reason behind it. He knew there had to be some reason she disliked Zana so much, but he wasn't able to come up with anything that remotely made sense. Women could be so confusing.

And speaking of Zana, there was his own problem of – He shook his head. No, there would be no thinking about that now; he still had too many other problems to sort out. He knew Zana had to have been nearby at some point that day, since the children had told him she had rescued them and she would not have sent them off alone. But when he had stepped outside to look for her, there had been no sign of her – or anyone else, for that matter – anywhere. He had wanted to keep looking for her, but he had not had time to before Marlene had forced him to think about something else entirely.

" _Do you love her, Cloud?_ "

It had been an innocent question. Marlene was a child; it was in her nature to ask questions like that. But it made Cloud's mind reel. What  _did_  he feel for Zana? He knew  _love_  wasn't the right word, but could the children see something in him that he couldn't? Was he just curious about who she was, wanting to see more of this person who so resembled his old friend Zack, or… Was there a little more to it than that? He had been unable to decide which it was, and his only response to the children had been to mutter, "I don't know." They seemed disappointed in his answer, but he had shrugged it off. They – and he – would just have to wait and find out.

A blast of freezing air whipped and cut at him. He shivered in the unyielding torrent of wind, wrapping his uninjured arm around himself and bringing the sling around his other arm as close as he could; winter was definitely not far off. He viewed winter through a clouded lens of love and hate. Sure, it made home life cozier – and, as Tifa often said, more romantic – but it made deliveries miserable. He shuddered at the thought.

"Cloud."

The blond's eyes shot open fully, his body rigid and alert. From past experience, he knew hearing his name on the wind was never a good sign. The crystal blue orbs that were his eyes flicked back and forth over the empty alleyway below in a fruitless search for the voice's owner. Nothing but emptiness, as he had expected. No one walked the street in the back alley this late at night, anyway, except drunks who were too disoriented to care where they were going; it wasn't a safe place to be for anyone who wasn't able to fight well. He had just begun to disregard the sound as the work of his overtired mind when he heard it again, louder this time.

"Cloud."

The voice sounded almost feminine, but as it was a whisper he couldn't be totally sure. Finally, his eyes came to rest on a form that definitely wasn't part of the landscape. The moonlight was only enough to outline the thin, muscular frame and spiky hair of the person, but with his mako-enhanced vision Cloud could just make out a SOLDIER uniform, too. Whoever the person was obviously had mako-infused eyes, too, because they shone like a cat's eyes in the darkness after they opened, standing out against the dark silhouette like blue flames. His heart jumped into his throat; he knew who that was.

"Z… Zack…?"

The person did not answer. Instead, they walked closer with long, deliberate steps. Their gait was awkward, though, and they limped as though something was wrong with one or both legs. With an obvious bit of effort, the person jumped up and grabbed the pipes along the wall, easily ascending to Cloud's window and stifling a groan of pain when their wounded leg brushed against the brick. He was about to ask them about the wound when the thought was immediately swept from his mind by a sense of recognition.

"Sorry, not Zack," said Zana Zira. "But I guess I must look like him?"

"Umm… Well…" said Cloud, truly sizing her up for the first time. Her hair and eyes, upon closer inspection, were the only features she had that were identical to Zack's. Her arms, although very muscular, still appeared graceful and ended in hands much smaller and with much slimmer fingers than Zack's had been. The leather belt she wore highlighted her thin waist and slim hips, and as he followed the line of her suspenders he noticed that her bust was sizeable, though not nearly so extreme as Tifa's. Her legs were long and, based on the size of her boots, her feet were fairly large for a woman, which would serve her well in running and standing her ground in a fight. Her face was built somewhat similarly to Zack's, but with higher cheekbones and a sharper chin. Her lips were parted slightly over small white teeth in a playful grin, just as Zack's had always been, and her eyes were just as kind.

"Like what you see?" Zana asked, playfully drawing his attention back to her face when she caught him staring too long. Cloud looked back at her immediately, glad that it was still too dark for her to see him blush. "You don't have to answer that," she hastily added.

"I… Sorry," Cloud mumbled, embarrassed. "I didn't mean to imply that you look like a man, or anything. You just remind me of –"

"Zack Fair?" she finished. Cloud's breath caught in his chest.

"How did you know?"

"That's classified info." Cloud dropped his eyes dejectedly.

"Oh."

"Aw, c'mon, lighten up!" Zana chuckled as she lightly punched his good arm. "Don't take everything so seriously all the time. If you have to know, I'm Zack's… um… younger sister." Cloud felt his heart skip a beat.

"Sis… You knew… He's your… You're his sister?" Zana sighed, shrugging tiredly.

"Yeah. It's complex, though. I'm his cousin by blood, which is why my last name is Zira. My dad and his mom are the ones that are related, but her name changed to Fair when she got married. But my mother died when I was three days old because of some complications from the pregnancy, and my biological father committed suicide that night."

"I'm so sorry," Cloud said softly, feeling guilty for bringing it up and understanding now why Zack never had; the older SOLDIER never had liked to talk too much about anyone's personal life but his own. Zana shrugged again.

"Thanks, but I was too young to remember any of it. My aunt and uncle – Zack's parents – took me in and raised me as their own daughter. So when I say 'my parents,' it's them I'm talking about. Zack was only two at the time, so he didn't notice the difference. And we were really close; he always stuck up for me when I needed it, and sometimes even when I didn't." Cloud chuckled, easily able to imagine Zack being a little overprotective; he had dealt with that from the older SOLDIER himself. But one thing still didn't make sense to him.

"So, if they adopted you, why didn't you take their last name?" Zana's face sobered.

"I did. But when I joined SOLDIER, I didn't want anyone to know I had been related to Zack, so I changed it back to my father's name, and I've just left it that way ever since."

"Why would you hide your relation to Zack?"

"He was supposed to be a traitor to Shin-Ra, remember?" she asked bitterly, biting her lip in anger. "I joined right after you two went to Nibelheim and never came back. I wasn't sure if a last name would be enough to keep me out of SOLDIER, but I wasn't going to risk it. And at the time, I even changed my first name to 'Rozz.'"

"'Rozz?'" Cloud asked curiously.

"'Zana' is an old Gongagan word that means 'rose' in Continental. I wanted a unique name that didn't resemble my own, but I couldn't think of one, so I just used a play on my real name." She blushed slightly, a little shy about revealing the nickname. Beside her, she heard Cloud chuckle quietly, and her eyes flashed irritably. "What? Something funny about that?" She was more than a little offended that he would laugh after she had shared something so personal.

"Oh, I just made sense of something that happened a long time ago. Zack's mentor Angeal asked him what his favorite kind of flower was – the man was an expert on plants – and Zack said it was a Gongagan Rose. Angeal told him there was no such thing, and Zack told him there most definitely was, because he'd seen one in his house his whole life. I just understood what he meant by that." Zana blushed deeper, rolling her eyes and smiling.

"That Zack…" she muttered with a smile. "He could be so embarrassing." She shook her head suddenly, remembering why she had come to talk to Cloud in the first place. "Oh! But I did come here for a reason, Cloud." He inclined his head toward her but said nothing. "Rufus asked me to let you know he'd like to see you and Tifa at our temporary base tomorrow, and that you're welcome to bring the children, too."

"Why?" he asked, bristling visibly.

"Well, because we have some visitors coming that I'm sure you'd like to see, and Rufus also wants more information about the Sincanus that attacked you outside Othello. I took them out, but I don't know anything about what happened before you got knocked off Fenrir." Cloud sighed, nodding slowly.

"I guess there's not much of a choice, huh?" Zana clapped him on his good shoulder.

"Don't worry, we won't eat you or anything while you're there," she said, rolling her eyes at how much he obviously still distrusted the Turks. He was a stubborn one, for sure.

"Hnn," he grunted with a nod of his own.

"Well, anyway, that's what I came here to tell you," Zana said, stretching just far enough to avoid hurting her wound and yawning. "It's two a.m., so I'd better be getting back. But I'll be around tomorrow, so see you then?" Cloud looked at her and smiled ever so slightly.

"Yeah."

"Good. Well, g'night. See ya later!" She sprang down to the ground two stories below, grunting in pain when her stitches stretched but held firm. Then, with never a break in her stride, she jogged away from Seventh Heaven, using the back alleys to take her back to the Shin-Ra Headquarters in Edge.

"See ya…" Cloud muttered, not even noticing when he slowly drifted off into sleep.

He was still dozing in the same spot when a hand gently tapped his shoulder, startling him so much that he nearly fell out of the window. Tifa held him back, though, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he swung his feet into the room and sat down on his bed.

"Cloud, it's four in the morning! Why aren't you in bed?" Tifa asked, her concern evident. "You're hurt and you need rest so you can heal!"

"Apparently I fell asleep in the window again," he replied drowsily, rubbing his temples.

"Oh, Cloud," Tifa sighed. "What am I going to do with you? You're impossible!"

"I guess I am. So does this mean you're talking to me again?" Tifa bit her lip.

"I… I was being childish, Cloud. Getting jealous like that for no reason… it isn't like me. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I understand." Tifa smiled.

"Thanks, Cloud. You always have known just what to say – when you talk, that is."

"Anytime. Goodnight, Tifa."

"Goodn – Oh, wait. I almost forgot, I wanted to ask you something. I thought I saw someone sneaking around the back alley earlier. Did you see anything weird?"

"No," he said simply, hoping she couldn't hear the way his heart was suddenly racing with shock. "I didn't see anything. I might have been asleep, though."

"Hmm. Okay. Maybe I was just being paranoid."

"Maybe so. I think you work too hard, Tifa. Maybe you should sleep in a little tomorrow."

"Yeah, maybe… Well, anyway, thanks for being so understanding about earlier." She crawled into the twin bed beside his, burrowing into the covers with a contented sigh. "Wake me if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay," he said, lying down on his own bed and pulling the warm blankets over himself. "And don't let me forget, I have something I need to talk to you about in the morning. It's something to do with Shin-Ra," he added when she didn't respond. "Tifa?" he asked when he still received no answer. He turned over to look at her bed and found that she was already asleep. He sighed, smiling a little despite himself. Well, never mind. He supposed it could wait until morning.


	12. Proposition

As soon as the sun had risen over the horizon the next morning, Zana was knocking on the door of Seventh Heaven. She had only slept about three hours the night before, but that was nothing new; working for the Turks almost went hand-in-hand with being constantly sleep-deprived. She tapped the door three times with her knuckles and waited, knowing the residents were probably asleep. It didn't take as long as she had thought, though, for the door to slowly creak open. Tifa stood peering out at Zana, her eyes squinting against the light of the sun and her hair disheveled from being slept on. She sighed impatiently and opened the door farther, crossing her arms over her nightgown.

"Zana? What do you want?" she snapped. "It's six in the morning, and we just closed at two."

"Yes, I know. I'm sorry for coming unannounced, but… I need to talk to Cloud. It's important." Tifa's eyes hardened.

"If it's about the meeting at Shin-Ra today, I'll tell Cloud later; he's still asleep. Come back some other time."

"Oh, I see," Zana said coldly, knowing Tifa was lying. "So you're the only one up?"

"Yes. Now either tell me what it is you want –"

"Don't give me that," Zana said harshly. "You won't tell him anything I say to you. This is important."

"He can't talk to you now!" Tifa hissed. "So just get out of –" She froze as a strong hand grasped her shoulder from behind.

"Tifa, don't be rude," Cloud said reproachfully. "I'm tired, but I'm not dying. I can talk to her."

"But I thought –"

"Tifa." That quiet word was as good as a slap from anyone else; Cloud never interrupted her, so it was clear he was quickly losing his patience with her. "Please give us a moment." Tifa's eyes blazed when she looked at Zana, but she relented.

"Fine. I'll go upstairs."

"Thank you, Tifa."

"Hn." She strode up the stairs toward their bedrooms, her shoes beating softly on the wooden boards.

"So," Cloud said when he was sure she had gone. "I'm here now. What did you need?"

"How are you feeling?" Zana asked, answering with another question. "Your wounds, are they healing?"

"I'm doing pretty well, I think. A little weak and sore, maybe, but recovering. It's only been three days, remember?"

"Yeah, and that's why I came here. Three days is a lot of time in the delivery business, right? I bet you have lots of work piled up."

"I guess… probably. Haven't thought about it too much."

"Well, Tseng has, and so have I. You're in no condition to make deliveries right now, Cloud."

"No, I guess not. But how does that involve you?"

"Hey, we're friends, right? Friends help each other out when they need it. I'd be willing to do your deliveries until you're fully healed, no tips or anything. Whatcha say?"

"I can't ask you to –"

" _I'm_  asking  _you_."

"But I –"

"What other choice do you really have?"

"Tifa suggested just cancelling the deliveries for a while…"

"Riiight. She'd have to work twenty-four hours a day to make up for all the money that would lose. I may not be Tifa's best friend or anything, but I wouldn't want to see her run herself into the ground. And I'm free for a couple of weeks anyway," she added, deciding not to mention the wound that had been the reason for her sudden vacation. "Face it, I'm your best option right now." Cloud had to force back a smile when he thought about how much her stubbornness resembled her brother's; she definitely didn't give up until she got what she wanted.

"Okay, you win. I'll let you do the deliveries. You proved in Othello that you know how to do them, I guess. But when Tifa skins me alive, I'm coming after Tseng for suggesting this to you." Zana snorted and fought to keep herself from laughing outright, imagining what an interesting fight  _that_  would be.

"Well, you're in luck. Our guests got in last night like I said before, so we'll be expecting you at the new Shin-Ra building sometime today. Well,  _I_  won't be, since I'll be out doing deliveries, but anyway… Oh, and Tifa doesn't know I've told you yet, so pretend to be surprised when she tells you." Cloud smirked, knowing what she was about to say. "Or, you know, whatever stone-faced look passes for surprise for you."

"Fine. See you all then. Now, about those packages…"

* * *

Several hours later, Cloud arrived at the Turks' headquarters, accompanied by Tifa and the children. It was a dark, intimidating, multi-story building made of iron and pipes. There were windows, but most of them were blocked off by steel shutters, and the few that were open to the weak sunlight revealed nothing but empty darkness. Cloud suppressed a shudder and looked away for a moment; it looked too much like a miniature version of the old Shin-Ra Headquarters he had worked in all those years ago.  _Way_  too much.

"Why are we here, Cloud?" Denzel asked quietly.

"I don't like it here," said Marlene. "It's creepy."

"It's okay," Cloud said, swallowing back his own strong discomfort. He knelt down and put his arm across their shoulders in an attempt at being comforting. "I'm here. It'll be fine." Tifa smiled at the sight, realizing just how much he cared about the children; he was putting aside the terror of his old memories for them.

"So, should we ring the doorbell or something?" Tifa asked quietly.

"I don't see a doorbell anywhere," Cloud answered, looking for some sort of button on the outside. "In fact, I don't even see a  _door_."

"So then, how will they know we –" She never finished the question, for at that moment the wall of metal slid open, revealing a large, dark entryway. Tseng stood calmly within the opening, waiting to lead them inside.

"Good to see you," he said in his typical monotone. "I trust you made it here with no trouble?"

"We're fine," said Cloud, not about to admit how exhausted he was after walking across the city with those wounds. He'd never live it down if he did.

"Good." Tseng's expression was unchanged, as usual, though Cloud was sure he sounded almost amused. "Everyone's waiting for you inside. Please follow me." He turned on his heel and strode into the dark hall behind him, his well-polished shoes clicking loudly against the tile. The others followed, and Cloud felt slightly claustrophobic as the iron wall slid shut behind them with a soft hiss.

"How can you see in here, Mr. Turk?" Marlene asked. As if in response, a string of fluorescent lights flared into life above Tseng's head as he passed under it, repeating every time he neared one until the entire hall was filled with light.

"That would be how," Tseng answered, finding it very hard to keep a straight face as he watched the children looking around in awe. When they reached the end of the passageway, Tseng opened one of the doors on the right, identical to every other door they had passed. "In here, please."

The group strode in, and all four of them stopped in shock. The enormous room was decorated elegantly – perhaps even beautifully – in total contrast to the rest of the building. An imported rug covered most of the floor in a pattern of red, brown, and gold leaves falling against a pumpkin-colored background. The other visible part of the floor was carpeted in simple tan. There were pictures of open fields of wheat surrounded by cloudy skies hanging on the walls. Two queen-sized beds covered in brown silk comforters sat in opposite corners of the room, and six large leather armchairs sat around a small mahogany dining table set close to a crackling stone fireplace. Overall, it was a theme very fitting for early October.

"Surprised?" asked Reina, standing up from one of the armchairs with arms open in a warm greeting.

"Pretty homey compared to the old Shin-Ra building, huh?" Reno asked. "I like it, yo."

"Yeah…" Cloud said, distracted by something that had nothing to do with the furniture. Besides the Turks and Rufus ShinRa, Cloud could see five others standing or sitting around the room: Yuffie Kisaragi, Barret Wallace, Cid Highwind, Red XIII, and Reeve Tuesti, who had decided to appear in person this time rather than sending in Cait Sith. Before he could start to greet any of them, Barret had rushed over and scooped Marlene up into his arms, hugging her tight.

"Daddy! You're back!" she said joyfully, cuddling up to his chest and returning the hug.

"How ya been, Marlene?" Barret asked, kissing her cheeks and smiling when she giggled and shied away from his scratchy goatee. "You doin' okay? They good to you? They takin' care o' you?"

"Of course we are," Tifa chimed in, helping Marlene escape Barret's arms before she was tickled to death.

"I know it, Mama," he said to Tifa, using the affectionate nickname he had given her for taking care of Marlene so much. "I still gotta check, though, y'know?" He seemed to notice Cloud and Denzel for the first time, and he broke out into a huge grin. "HEEEYYY! Little Spiky!" he said to Denzel. "How you been?"

"Fine…" Denzel replied, not used to being the center of attention.

"And as shy as Big Spiky too, huh?" he said, laughing when Cloud blushed a little. When he noticed how much weight Cloud had lost since he last saw him, though, he frowned. "Damn! You're even skinnier than before, Chocobo-head! What happened, Mama quit feedin' you?"

"Yeah," Cloud said with a half-smirk. "That's what happens when you're always three days late for dinner, you know?"

"Ah-ha! So he  _can_  crack a joke sometimes!" Cid said, rising from his seat and walking over to Cloud; he still reeked of cigarettes, just as Cloud remembered. "G'job!"

"Cid, don't –" Reina began as she saw what the pilot was about to do. Too late; Cloud yelped in pain as Cid gave him a rough clap on the shoulder. He stumbled forward and Cid grabbed him around the waist to catch him, accidentally squeezing his broken ribs with a strong arm. Cloud groaned and turned ashen, trying hard not to crumple to the floor and wishing Cid would let go. Finally, he seemed to get the message, and Cloud stood shakily and leaned against the wall, breathing slowly as he fought the urge to punch Cid in the jaw. Reina put her palm over her face and sighed.

"Are you alright, Cloud?" Reeve asked worriedly, wanting to come to his side but not sure he should.

"No, but I will be…"

"He's got three broken ribs, a sprained shoulder, and a broken arm," Reina explained, her brogue thicker than usual. "And Cid there just smacked his shoulder and grabbed 'im 'round the waist."

"See, you crabby bow-legged old man, you hurt him!" Yuffie shouted at Cid. "Why'd you let him do that, Boobs?" Cid and Tifa both colored red with anger.

"That's not my name!" they shouted in unison. Yuffie shrugged.

"Don't get so worked up, Boobs. Your chest'll explode."

"Yuffie, enough," said a rough voice from somewhere in the shadows. A moment later, the owner of the voice stepped out into the center of the room, lowering the collar of his scarlet cloak so they could see his pale face. Cloud and Tifa were both startled.

"V-Vincent?!" Tifa stammered. "When did you get here?"

"About three o'clock in the morning, I think."

"So… that means you've been in here the whole time?" Vincent smiled slightly and nodded. Tifa gulped, glad he was their friend and not an enemy with the stealth of a phantom.

"Well, considering the guy's basically a walking shadow, you shouldn't feel too bad about not noticing him," Reno said from his position in the middle of one of the beds. "But you know, for someone who supposedly doesn't like attention, he sure does wear some pretty unusual clothes."

"I believe we're getting off-topic," Vincent said icily, fixing Reno with a glare that immediately took the smirk off of the redhead's face.

"Yes, thank you, Vincent," said Tseng, clearing his throat. "Cloud, I'm afraid we need to ask you for your help again." Cloud's eyebrows came together angrily.

"You know I'm not gonna be interested in that."

"Cloud, without you we won't be able to –" Elena began.

"I don't care. I don't have time to work with Shin-Ra anymore. I'll tell you about the Sincanus like Zana said you wanted me to, but other than that count me out." He was unnerved by the sudden look that passed between the Turks, and he suddenly realized he had been played. "She lied to me, didn't she?"

"Well, to her credit, she didn't know she was lying to you." Cloud snorted.

"That's it, I'm outta here."

"Cloud…" Tifa said softly, grabbing his arm. "Hear them out, at least. If our friends have already agreed to help them it can't be so bad, right?" Cloud sighed, then nodded as a sign that Tseng could continue.

"As you already know, there are monsters reappearing in the ruins of Midgar. The Sincanus population around Othello is also spiking, and they're starting to move into areas closer to the residents than they ever have before. But it's not just those places; there are odd creatures beginning to crawl out of the woodwork in almost every inhabited area on the Continent, and even in Wutai. And most of them are species that are not native to areas anywhere near the places where they have been appearing."

"So, knowing that," Rufus cut in, "we decided to recruit some of your friends to see if anyone could find out what was causing this. No one was able to find anything except an ever-increasing population of monsters, and for a while we thought it was just some kind of natural increase resulting from the disturbance Meteor caused the planet. But just two days ago, something happened that made us believe it may have something to do with Jenova… Or, more precisely, with someone infused with a very high number of Jenova cells." Cloud's heart sped up instantly, a sense of dread making the hairs on his neck stand on end.

"What happened?"

"Kadaj's blade, Souba, was stolen," Reeve answered with a shudder. "I was in the building that night and heard some screams coming through the vents from the vault, but by the time I got there, the sword was missing and every guard had been slaughtered. Whoever it was killed them brutally…"

"How so?" Cloud asked as he and Tifa covered the children's ears.

"Each person had two parallel slices across their torsos, which was to be expected if the killer was using Souba. However, they did not stop there. Each person was totally eviscerated, likely  _before_  being decapitated. Whoever this was… they are killing blindly, the way Sephiroth did in Nibelheim." Tifa's eyes flashed and the cords of Cloud's neck stood out as he clenched his jaw furiously.

"So, it was Kadaj, then?" Tifa asked, wondering why none of her comrades seemed shocked by this news. It hadn't yet occurred to her that they had probably already been told.

"That's what we thought at first," Reeve said cautiously. "But after testing the one silver hair we found on a victim's body, we think we've narrowed it down to someone else entirely." Rude strode over to Cloud and Tifa, handing them a folder containing a short stack of papers. Most of it was written in high-level scientific jargon that they couldn't make heads or tails of, but the photo on the front page immediately caught everyone's eye.

The picture was a headshot of a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties. Her face was angular and very pretty, almost as close to perfection as one could hope to find in the human form. Her lips were drawn tight in a displeased line, and her expression seemed to radiate something akin to hatred even in the picture. Her eyes were the color of jade with slitted pupils like a snake's, and her long silver hair flowed down her back like liquid mercury. Everyone shivered involuntarily at the sight of her; even the children could see the obvious resemblance to Sephiroth in her every feature.

"Another remnant?" Tifa whispered, horrified. This one somehow seemed more frightening than the others, perhaps because she seemed so much like a female clone of the ex-general.

"Her name is Selph Zephyr," said Rufus, reclaiming the dossier. "It seems she was the result of an experiment to create another being like Sephiroth, kept secret in the labs under Shin-Ra for years by Professor Hojo. From what we have pieced together from the experimental records, she was born by combining Sephiroth's… well, shall we say genetic material with that of a woman who had been injected with Jenova cells, and then injecting the infant with more of the cells when she was born. She is Sephiroth's biological daughter, though Sephiroth himself likely had no knowledge of this. He would only have been about fifteen at the time, so he was probably never told, and probably never even met the woman who gave birth to her." Everyone shuddered, disgusted at just how low Hojo was willing to go for his genetic experiments. To use his own fifteen-year old son as a stud, even if it  _was_  Sephiroth…

"That's just sick!" said Reno, feeling suddenly nauseous and really wanting a cigarette as he imagined the great General Sephiroth being treated like a prized racing Chocobo instead of a person.

"I agree," said Rufus. "And to make matters worse, this Selph is extremely powerful and emotionally unstable, just like her father, and she was a close associate of Kadaj. From what we can gather, the recent spike in monster populations seems to be driven by some kind of effort to exact revenge on the people who killed him – Shin-Ra and everyone who has ever had anything to do with it."

"So how do we stop her, then?" Tifa asked, holding Denzel close as Barret gathered Marlene into his own massive arms.

"We don't know yet," said Reeve, running his fingers back through his hair in agitation. "Ever since Meteor, Materia have been failing too often for us to rely on them much anymore. And we don't know exactly what her abilities are, so to take her on blindly could be suicide."

"So what, then? There ain't anything we can do about this Sephiroth wannabe?" Cid asked impatiently, crossing his arms and glaring at the inventor.

"At the moment, the priority is protecting the surviving citizens of Edge. They've just started to rebuild their lives and move on after Meteor, and I won't stand by and watch as another spawn of Jenova ruins everything again."

"So let's just hunt the bitch down and kill her, then!" the pilot said impatiently.

"You know we already would have if it was that easy," Vincent said quietly, looking up at the ceiling as if lost in thought.

"So what is it you want from me?" Cloud asked, quickly losing patience as the argument went nowhere.

"We need your help in this, Cloud and Tifa," said Rufus, staring into their eyes with absolute confidence. "Your comrades and the Turks have already agreed to what I am about to suggest; will you hear me out?" They nodded, although Cloud was still reluctant to agree to anything. "We want you to come with us, far away from Edge. It's not safe for you here anymore – any of you. We believe that Selph summoned that Shadow Creeper specifically to try and take you down, Cloud. When it couldn't find you, it attacked your children. It was a coincidence that Zana was there to save them, but if not for her…" He paused to allow his words to sink in, noting the way Barret immediately flinched and hugged Marlene tighter; the man had just met Zana about twelve hours ago, and he had nearly broken her spine in a crushing bear-hug when he learned what she had done for his little girl.

"In any case," Tseng continued. "It would be safest for the citizens here if we were all to leave and draw the attacks away from them. It seems Selph has gained a talent for magic almost as powerful as Sephiroth's was. I'm not sure how she's doing it, but Materia are too weak and unreliable now to even come close to being able to counter her. We need more knowledge of ancient, non-Materia-based magic before we even stand a chance, and there is still one place left that Selph seems unable to touch so far. It's a long way from here, but it's the only card we have left to play."

"Where?" asked Tifa.

"My homeland," Reina answered proudly. "Alethía."

"Cloud," Tseng said curtly. "It is the eighth of October now. We will be departing exactly one month from now, and I do not know when or if we'll return. Surely that's enough time for you to get your affairs in order and tell me what you've decided."

"I'll see what I can do."

"See to it that you do; we will not take no for an answer."


	13. Preparations

As the remaining time until November eighth slowly ticked away, Cloud grew more and more anxious. As he watched, he could see the city beginning to change around him. Everywhere he went, there was now an ever-present sense of danger he had not known since his days in AVALANCHE. Reeve had ordered the citizens to stay indoors as much as possible, and W.R.O. guards had been stationed at every corner of every street to defend the people against the ever-increasing attacks by monsters. The Turks could regularly be seen walking the streets around Seventh Heaven; whether they were there to look for information on Selph or keep him from running away, he didn't know. He wanted no part of leaving his home and even less of helping Shin-Ra, for both personal and professional reasons; however, he knew that for the sake of the children and the citizens of Edge he really should go to Alethía.

On October fifteenth, Tifa had finally made the choice for him when she announced to all of that night's customers that it would be their last day open, and they were all welcome to have a free drink or two on the house. Cloud had seen the look of despair in her eyes as she looked out on the place she had put so much work into building with him, and that they would now have to leave behind for who knew how long. But when he had started to try to reassure her, she had just smiled at him and told him not to worry; he was always amazed at how well she adapted when things got tough. Cloud had reported their decision to Tseng, who had shown absolutely no surprise upon hearing this piece of news.

Even after the bar closed, Cloud and Tifa continued to accept deliveries, which Zana picked up and carried out every day from sunup to the middle of the night without complaint. Because of the Jenova cells and mako they carried in their bodies, both she and Cloud healed much more quickly than average humans. So while it should have taken a month or two for Cloud's bones to knit, he was feeling well and back to almost peak condition in only three weeks; Zana healed quickly, too, the deep gash leaving a faint scar but otherwise vanishing completely within days.

As time wore on and they spent more and more time together, Cloud and Zana naturally began to grow fonder of one another. They would usually linger and talk for a little while every night after Zana returned with the day's receipts; these daily meetings were a welcome retreat from the harsh realities they were forced to accept and that often threatened to become too much to handle. Sometimes they talked about anything they were concerned about, or sometimes about nothing important at all. To them, it didn't matter exactly what they talked about, as long as they could spend time together and learn more about each other. And whenever they were apart, Cloud and Zana began to find that they now often wished for the other's presence beside them.

When he wasn't packing up his home or talking to Zana, Cloud could often be found alone in Aerith's church in Sector Five. Tifa knew where it was he slipped away to, but she never followed; the ruined church was the one place he could ever truly find solace when he was upset, and so she left him alone. He would spend hours kneeling beside the lily pond or Zack's Buster Sword, reflecting on his memories of them and regretting the fact that he would no longer be around to care for this memorial to them.

On one such night, Cloud received an unexpected guest in the church. He had been there for a few hours, lying on his back as he stared up at the stars showing through the broken ceiling and thinking about nothing in particular. They had only a few days left until it was time to depart, so he had finally closed Strife Delivery Service until further notice. As a result, he had not seen Zana in several days, and he was finding it more than a little lonely. As he sleepily mulled over these scattered thoughts, the heavy doors to the church creaked open, allowing the bitterly cold November wind to rush inside with an eerie, moaning wail. His curiosity piqued, he decided to wait and see who or what had followed him here.

The shadowy figure of a tall woman strode slowly down the center aisle, combat boots tapping loudly against the wooden floor. When her feet splashed into the shallowest part of the water, she froze as if lost in thought. Then, with a quiet "Hyu!" she sprang to the other side of the water, landing gracefully on her feet; the person seemed to know exactly what she was looking for. Cloud tensed as she strode across the floor to the altar where Zack's Buster Sword rested, running the tips of her fingers over the long hilt and down the edge of the blade.

As Cloud watched, the figure dropped to her knees and pressed her forehead to the cold metal before lightly kissing the flat of the sword once. He felt a cold rock in the pit of his stomach when she easily lifted the sword from its resting place and sheathed it across her back, preparing to leap back over the water and leave the way she had come. In an instant he was on his feet, standing in the water just in front of her with his sword resting against the side of her neck. She froze, saying nothing as she stared coldly at him. With a sense of relief, he watched her blue eyes brighten and begin to glow green; she was burning mako, something only SOLDIERs could do. He lowered the Fusion Sword immediately, relaxing and offering the woman a soft smile.

"Zana, you have  _got_  to stop sneaking up on me like that," he said softly, his heart still racing until her furiously glowing eyes cooled back to their usual deep blue.

"Oh, gods, Cloud!" she said happily, hugging him for a moment before releasing him and standing in the water before him with a smile. "I didn't know it was you or I'd have said something! Where's Fenrir? I didn't see it anywhere around."

"I parked it pretty far away this time. I'm not sure why, I just felt like it."

"Oh. Well that explains it."

"So, um…" Cloud began, looking at the Buster Sword on her back. "That isn't heavy for you?"

"This? Nah." She unsheathed it and spun it around, tossing it into the air and catching it just as easily as he had done in the past. "I was planning to take it with me, since those SOLDIER broadswords tend to break pretty easily and they're a lot weaker than the Buster Sword. You don't… mind, do you?" Cloud looked between the sword and the SOLDIER, unsure, before finally sighing and shaking his head.

"I think Zack would be a lot happier to see it getting used to protect people than sitting here gathering rust while we're gone."

"Yeah. And protect it will. I don't plan on letting anyone else I care about die."

"Neither do I."

"Well, thanks then, Cloud. See you later, huh?"

"Yeah…" He stood still, watching silently as Zana turned to leave, but suddenly the doors swung open again to admit a furious woman who strode right toward Zana with Ifrit's fire in her eyes.

"Oh, wonderful…" Zana said with a groan. "Tifa."


	14. Breaking Point

Tifa's eyes were as frigid as ice and as angry as a forest fire. Her strides were long and quick, and the fury radiating from her was so unsettling that both Cloud and Zana found themselves unable to speak for a moment. When she reached the two of them, the brunette pulled up short, nostrils flaring and breaths short and heavy as she fought to keep herself under control.

"Zira," she growled, eyeing Zana with an almost predatory hostility in her gaze.

"Lockhart," Zana replied evenly. The SOLDIER's unusually levelheaded attitude and her refusal to be intimidated only seemed to inflame Tifa more. She clenched her fists at her sides, glaring daggers at the raven-haired woman.

"What do you think you're doing here?" Zana shrugged.

"It's a church, isn't it? I have as much right to be here as anyone else."

"That may be true, but why haven't I ever seen or heard of you being here until tonight? Why only when Cloud –"

"What? You're assuming I came just to sneak off with him or something?"

"Hnn."

"Man, that is so like you. Quit always assuming the worst about me, Tifa!" She reached over her shoulder and grasped the hilt of the Buster Sword in a strong fist. "Do you remember this blade? I came here to get it, and that's all. The fact that Cloud was already here is a total coincidence."

"Nothing to do with Shin-Ra is ever a coincidence," Tifa growled.

"Alright, enough!" Zana snapped, her blue eyes flashing dangerously. "We need to talk, Tifa. Now."

"What is it we need to –"

"Outside. Now." Tifa obeyed her with an irritated snort, and Cloud began to follow after them. "No," Zana said firmly. "Stay here. This is between us."

"Hmm…" He stepped back and allowed them to leave; the oak doors slammed shut behind them, and suddenly he was alone again.

* * *

The November air was still and cold. The stars in the sky offered beauty but no real light, so Zana's face was cast almost totally in shadow, only her ocean-blue eyes clear as she glared at Tifa and they began to glow a pale green. The two women stood tense and silent, sizing each other up like two wolves prepared to snap at each other at any moment.

Before Tifa had time to react, Zana had lunged and grabbed her by the straps of her shirt, shoving her into the oak doors so swiftly that it made very little sound at all. The ferocity in her gaze halted Tifa's scream of protest in her throat, and she shuddered beneath the SOLDIER's piercing stare.

"Now you listen to me," Zana hissed through clenched teeth. "I'm through playing nice, and I'm not going to tell you this again: I don't know what you're thinking, and frankly I don't care. But whatever it is that made you hate me from the second you saw me again, let it go. I know you hate SOLDIER, and I can tell you're trying to keep Cloud as far away from me as you can; I could tell that the second I brought him back to your bar."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying you're being completely irrational here! Don't you see that? I'm not evil, Tifa! Yes, I work for Shin-Ra – so what? Reno and Rude do, and so did Cloud, and you're friends with all of  _them_." Tifa's gaze darted away for a fraction of a second, and Zana knew she had struck a tender area.

"I don't care if you're with the Shin-Ra Company or not. What I care about is the way you're trying to seduce Cloud, you little hussy! He's not yours to take!"

"Well he's not yours to keep, either."

"SHUT UP!" Tifa screamed, wrenching herself from Zana's grip. "I see the way he looks when anyone talks about you, and I can't  _stand_  it! I've worked too damn hard to get all of us where we are now, and to rebuild my life after Shin-Ra took everything from me. I won't let you take  _him_ , too!"

"Who said anything about me taking him away from you? When did you start thinking so little of me, Tifa? We used to be comrades, don't you remember?"

"No, I don't."

"Dammit, Tifa!" Zana shouted, shaking the bartender by the shoulders. "Get a  _grip_ , would you? I'm  _not_  your enemy here! I'm  _not_  trying to come between you and Cloud! And I'm  _not_  gonna let you stand there and insult me while you pretend we were never friends!"

"It doesn't matter what we were then," Tifa said matter-of-factly. "We're totally different people now. You're still a SOLDIER, and I've managed to stop living in the past and build an actual life for myself." Zana sighed tiredly, shrugging off the insult with a shake of her head.

"Whatever you have to tell yourself. But is it really only because I left to join SOLDIER that you hate me so much?"

"Of course not. Sure, I hate what Shin-Ra stood for then, and the evils they committed. I hated it that you were willing to become a part of that even after everything they did to you, to me – to Cloud, too. But most importantly, I realized that day where your loyalties lie, and I can't bring myself to respect anyone who would give up every bit of honor they had to serve someone like Shin-Ra."

"What do you know about honor? You have no idea how much my honor as SOLDIER means to me! My brother died protecting what he believed in – and saved Cloud's life doing it too, by the way – and I'd gladly do the same! Not all SOLDIERs are good people, Tifa, but I try damn hard to be the best I can with the hand I've been dealt. I'm as human as anyone else."

Neither of the two women noticed Cloud slipping quietly through one of the large cracks in the wall to see what was happening; they were both too focused on one another. Cloud could feel the tension crackling between them, so thick it was almost a physical substance. They looked like two feral cats, circling and hissing and each waiting for the other to make a fatal mistake. He hadn't heard everything that had been said, but he knew from what he had heard that this was  _not_  going to end well if he did not intervene. Although Zana was a very patient person by nature, a SOLDIER was still a very dangerous foe when provoked, and he feared for Tifa if she managed to anger Zana to the point of violence.

"No…" Tifa whispered, her voice suddenly choked with emotion. "You may have a human body, but you're nothing but a monster." Even Cloud winced at the sound of her words. "Sephiroth… you're just like him." Her voice was rising in volume now, shaking with barely-suppressed fury. "SOLDIER… I let them into the village… They killed my father… It's your fault – it's all your fault! I hate Shin-Ra, and I hate SOLDIER!" Her voice had risen to a hysterical scream, all rationality swallowed up by anger and grief. "You and that traitorous monster Zack – I HATE ALL OF YOU!"

The instant Zack's name left Tifa's lips, Cloud knew there would be trouble. The SOLDIER's eyes glazed over in an instant, and before he could move a muscle to step between him, Zana had lunged at Tifa with a sucker-punch to the face. The brunette wiped the blood from her split lip and swung a punch back at Zana, who dodged easily and kicked Tifa's feet out from under her.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Zana shrieked as she drew back to punch the other woman again. Insulting her brother had been the last straw – she would put up with almost anything else, even being called a floozy to her face by a girl who had no business preaching about that, but insulting Zack was one thing she would  _not_  stand for. She reached down and grabbed Tifa by the back of her shirt, tossing her a good distance away and leaping after her to follow up with another punch. Cloud leapt between them, hoping for an opportunity to break them up, and was rewarded instead with a kick in the chest that had been meant for Zana. He stepped back reflexively, saving his ribs from being re-broken, and the two went at it again as soon as he did.

Tifa managed to land a kick under Zana's ribs, and she doubled over in pain as stars exploded behind her eyes. Recovering quickly, the raven-haired SOLDIER jumped back to her feet, reaching for the Buster Sword. Before she could grasp the hilt, Tifa had stabbed two fingers into a pressure point on the back of her knee, effectively dead-legging her. Zana grunted in surprise as her knee buckled and she fell heavily onto her stomach; Tifa took advantage of this and kicked Zana under the right side of her jaw, but was surprised when the other woman still managed to grab her foot and pull her to the ground, pinning her arms at her sides and sitting on top of her. Realizing she had few other options, Tifa brought her head forcefully up against Zana's nose; her grip immediately loosened as she reeled back with her hand over her now-bloodied face.

Suddenly, before either woman could make another move, they were both yanked apart by Cloud's powerful arms and held with an iron grip by their shoulders. He was squeezing the tender muscles around their collarbones so hard that both immediately winced in pain and stopped struggling. Once he was sure they were not going to start fighting again, he slowly released them and crossed his arms, directing an icy glare at both of them. After a moment, he finally sighed and spoke in a barely audible growl.

"Zana, if you're not too badly hurt, please go home for now. I need to talk to Tifa." Zana needed no further prodding. With a quick nod to Cloud, she had leapt away and vanished into the shadows, the Buster Sword still secure and unscathed on her back. Tifa, though, felt her control over the situation slipping away rapidly and tried to pull Cloud back to her side.

"Cloud, I –"

"Shut up," Cloud snapped. Tifa recoiled as if she had been struck. Cloud had rarely even interrupted her before, and he had  _never_  spoken to her like this.

"C-Cloud…"

"You only came here to cause trouble, Tifa. Why did you feel the need to start something with Zana? All she came here to do was take the Buster Sword; she was already on her way out when you showed up."

"So you're not sneaking off with her?"

"No, I'm not. But even if I was, it wouldn't be any of your business, Tifa. I'm a grown man; who I choose to spend my time with is  _my_  decision, not yours. And how could you talk about Zack that way? You know he never did anything to hurt you, and you also know how much he meant to both me and Zana. It was totally uncalled for."

"I know, I'm sorry. I didn't think about –"

"I don't care what you thought right now," Cloud said, acid in his tone. "I'm sick of dealing with whatever's going on between you and Zana; it's not fair to me, and it's not fair for the kids to see us fighting because of something so petty." He looked up from his speech at Tifa, surprised to see tears dripping down her cheeks as she cried silently; he had not intended to make her cry at all. "Tifa, please don't cry. I didn't mean to be so harsh, and I'm sorry," he said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. She sniffled and leaned into him, and he wrapped his arms around her in a quick hug.

"I just want to be able to spend time with both of you without it causing issues like this. So for me, will you let it go and start acting like the kind, sensible Tifa I grew up with? I'm not going to go running off into the sunset with Zana on a whim and leave you alone to pick up the pieces or anything, but I'm also not going to stop spending time with her, so please don't ask that of me. And who knows – maybe if you two spend some time together, you'll remember what made you friends in the first place."

"I can't promise that we'll ever be friends, Cloud," Tifa said carefully, finally looking up into those blue eyes she had loved seeing since she was a little girl. "But I'll do my best, okay? For the kids, and for you."

"That's all I ask." He sighed as he noticed Tifa shivering in the cold November air, knowing she was probably wishing she had brought a coat at this point. "Fenrir's parked not too far from here," he said, taking the keys out of his pocket and holding them up. "Need a ride back?"

"Sure," Tifa said with a smile. "Thank you, Cloud."

"Any time."


	15. Departure

At 8:15 a.m. on November eighth, Cloud's family stood beside all of AVALANCHE, the Turks, and Reeve as they all waited to board the ship that would take them to Alethía. The air was cool, and Tifa had made sure the children were bundled up warmly in coats, hats, and gloves before they left. In spite of the reasons leading to their departure, everyone was in good spirits, excited to see the country across the sea where Reina had grown up.

From what she had told them, Alethía was as different from Edge as it was possible to be, and no one there had ever used mako or oil to create electricity. As a result, electronics would be useless there, so everyone had left things like their cell-phones behind; Cloud and Zana had reluctantly left Fenrir and the Hardy Daytona stored safely in an underground vault in the W.R.O. Headquarters to keep them from getting rusty out in the elements. Reina had also mentioned to Vincent that guns were extremely uncommon there and bullets would be expensive to replace, so she was planning to teach him and the rest of the Turks a way to make better use of the ones they did have once they got there. He had been mildly shocked at first, but he was interested to learn what she had to teach and did not complain.

"Mmr wm nnvmm fmm?" Marlene mumbled through the thick scarf that had somehow managed to fall down around her mouth. Cloud smiled slightly and pulled it away from her face.

"What, Marlene?"

"Are we leaving soon? I'm too excited to wait!"

"Me, too!" Denzel said, looking at the ship in complete awe.

"Yeah, soon. You'll have fun, kids, I promise."

"Aye, that ye will!" Reina said cheerily. "And the trip there oughta be nice too."

"Unless we sink," Reno said breezily. Reina frowned and grabbed his goggles; he yelped as they snapped back against his face. "Yowch! What was that for?!"

"Because yer an idjit." She turned to the children and smiled reassuringly. "Don't let 'im bother ye, alright? He's an idjit."

"We know," said Denzel. "Cloud told us already."

"I am feeling  _no_  love around here!" Reno sniffed. Barret and Cid snickered at him, and Vincent began to make a strange coughing sound. Cloud was about to ask him if he needed some water when he realized the gunman was actually laughing, too. Once he was aware of their eyes on him, though, Vincent cleared his throat and fell silent again.

A few minutes later, the boarding ramp lowered and the ship's captain stepped down, inviting them all onto the deck with a wave of his hand. The lot of them stepped up the metal ramp with quick and deliberate steps. It was a large vessel, much larger than what they had been expecting; there were several cabins belowdecks, a large upper deck, a dining cabin, and several steerage rooms, as well as a sickbay if anyone should need medical attention. Every cabin had a small caged-in balcony on the outside of its sliding glass door, allowing the occupants to go out for fresh air if they wanted to. As the group finished boarding and stood silent on the deck, they realized that although he had never taken his eyes off of the group, the captain had not yet spoken a word to them.

"He doesn't know a bit o' yer language," Reina explained. "It isn't common for us Alethíans to sail far from our shores, so he hasn't needed to learn. He's comin' here as a favor to me."

"So how're we supposed to ask him anything?" Cid asked.

"Let me handle that," said Reina. " _It's nice to see you again, sir,_ " she began in Alethían, warmly shaking the captain's hand. " _How are you?_ "

" _I'm well, thank you._ "

" _I'm glad to hear it,_ " Reina said with a smile. " _And what about my parents? Is everything alright with them?_ "

" _They're fine too, and excited to hear you're coming home._ "

" _Oh, good! And how long should this voyage take?_ "

" _It should take two-and-a-half days to reach Alethía._ "

" _That's good to hear, but what's worrying you?_ " she asked, noting the tension in the usually fearless man's features.

" _Lately, there are more monsters than usual in the seas surrounding our homeland. I didn't want to worry your companions, since most of them don't look like they've ever sailed before, but it does mean I have to be a little more cautious. Oh, and there's medicine for seasickness down in the sickbay; I thought I should let you know, in case it gets a little rough._ "

" _Duly noted. I have faith in your skills, Captain; it's why I asked specifically for you._ "

" _I will be sure to keep you and your companions safe, Milady._ "

" _I know you will._ " Then, with a sweep of her hand, she drew his attention to her companions and began introducing them. " _I would like you to meet: Tseng, Reno, Rude, and Elena of the Turks; Rufus ShinRa; Barret and Marlene Wallace; Cid Highwind; Yuffie Kisaragi; Reeve Tuesti and Cait Sith; Nanaki; Vincent Valentine; Tifa Lockhart, Denzel, and Cloud Strife; and Zana Zira, of SOLDIER._ " The captain smiled and, after a few whispered hints from Reina, spoke a few words to them in a shaky but understandable version of their own language.

"Nice ta… mee' ya…" he said quietly. "Th' name's Captain Aeden. Yer… um… in goo' han's wi' me."

"I am glad to hear it," said Rufus, offering his hand and shaking Aeden's warmly. With a kind smile, the captain nodded and waved to them as he departed to his quarters, ready to begin the voyage. The crew hurriedly began unchaining the boat from the dock, and the vessel began to rock as it was released to float freely in the water. Denzel and Marlene quivered with delight and excitement as they fought to keep their balance, laughing as they tested out the unfamiliar footing. The adults watched in amusement, glad the children could not sense the tension they all felt as they watched Edge beginning to fade into the distance. The first leg of their journey was now underway.


	16. Mal de Mer

Within a half-hour, everyone had moved their belongings into their cabins and become at least a little accustomed to the layout of the ship. The rooms had been arranged – probably by Reina – in a way intended to please everyone as much as possible. Tifa and the children were rooming together, as were Reno and Reina (who also happened to be sharing their room with Nanaki and Cait Sith), Tseng and Elena, Rude and Rufus, Yuffie and Vincent, and Cid and Barret. Cloud, true to his solitary nature, was rooming alone, and Zana had been placed with Reeve. She had only met the W.R.O. Commissioner for any significant length of time on one occasion, but he had seemed like a very kind person at the time, so she was perfectly fine with the arrangement.

The décor in their cabin was simple but tasteful: white walls, sky blue comforters and pillows on each of the twin beds, two small bedside tables and wall sconces, and a single bathroom and closet. Several pictures of what Zana guessed must be Alethían landscapes adorned the otherwise bare walls, and a sliding glass door between the two beds opened onto the enclosed balcony; a heavy blue curtain could be pulled across it to block out the sun, if one wished to.

"This is quite nice," Reeve said as he entered the room and sat down on one of the beds. Zana, who had been busy unpacking and arranging a small array of bottles and packages on her bedside table, merely nodded and smiled. "Oh? What are all of those for?" Reeve asked curiously, indicating all of the items on the table. "That looks like Dramamine…" He looked at her with obvious concern. "Do you get seasick, Zana?"

"No, luckily for me," the SOLDIER answered with a grin, almost knocking over the bottle of ginger ale before she caught it and placed it beside a box of crackers and a bottle of ginger pills. "But since we're going to be sailing for almost three entire days, you never know who might need it." Reeve smiled and nodded, relieved.

"It does pay to plan ahead," he said approvingly. "If I see anyone in need of it, I'll point them in your direction."

"Sounds good to me."

"Do you need any help unpacking before I head up to the deck?"

"Ah, no thank you, Commissioner. I'll be up soon, so go ahead." Reeve nodded and left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. Zana tied her hair up in a quick, messy ponytail and shrugged off her shoulder pauldrons, leaving the Buster Sword against the wall beside the bed before slipping on her favorite black coat and scarf. Once she had stepped out of the room and locked the door behind her, she sighed and headed for the stairs.

"Might as well have some fun before it gets too cold."

* * *

After spending most of the next hour staring out at the ocean and watching the seagulls fly over the waves, Zana was fully convinced she should have been born in Junon instead of Gongaga. Her home may have been in the tropics, but it was nowhere near any large bodies of water. As a result, she had never been on the ocean before except to travel briefly between Midgar and Costa del Sol, and this was an entirely different experience. The sea was deeper and cleaner here than it was near Midgar, a seemingly endless expanse of water that she felt she could dive down into forever and never touch the bottom. The cold wind made the waves rough and choppy, but even under the gray November clouds the water was still somehow a beautiful sapphire blue. It was absolutely breathtaking.

As Zana closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the sea-water spraying her face while the wind tossed her hair, a larger wave rolled beneath the ship, forcing her to grab the rail and hold herself steady. A second later she heard quick footsteps behind her, and she opened her eyes to see Cloud leaning against the rail, looking out at the horizon with his eyes fixed straight ahead.

"Oh! Hi, Cloud!" Zana said cheerfully, glad to have a chance to talk to him again.

"Nnn…" He offered no other response, but he did reach up to grip the rail tightly in both hands. Zana looked more closely at him and realized how pale he was; his cheeks seemed slightly green-tinged, and his breathing was unsteady and shallow as he continued to stare at the same point he had been looking at this entire time. He was gripping the rail so hard that his knuckles were snow-white.

"Hey," Zana said worriedly, placing a steady hand on his shoulder. "You doin' okay?" The blond shook his head slowly, swallowing hard.

"Think… I'm gonna be sick…" A second later he made good on his word, gagging and leaning further over the rail as another large wave rolled beneath the ship. Zana reached over and pulled the longest pieces of his hair away from his face, rubbing his back with her free hand until he had stopped retching and slid down to sit back against the rail. She knelt beside him as he closed his eyes and tried to focus on breathing deeply, which didn't seem to be working.

"So I take it you've never sailed before?" she asked softly as he folded his arms over his stomach and groaned.

"I have, but… It's been a whi - * _ulp_ *" He clapped a hand over his mouth and swallowed hard, somehow managing to keep himself from getting sick again. "Reno's such a liar…"

"Why? What are you talking about?"

"He told me to be sure and eat a big breakfast, because that would help keep me from getting seasick. I thought maybe he knew more about it than I did, but… Ugh… evidently not…" Zana slapped her forehead with the heel of her hand and rolled her eyes.

"Dammit, Reno! Of all the – Okay, Cloud, one:  _never_  listen to Reno about  _anything_  that doesn't involve flying, cigarettes or booze; I think he gets some kind of sick thrill out of messing with people, the little sadist. And two: I think I have some things that might help you, if you're interested." His eyes brightened slightly as he allowed himself to hope she was right. "Do you think you'll be able to make it to the cabins alright?"

"Yeah, I think so." He stood and straightened up, relieved to notice that the waves had ever-so-slightly eased for the moment. He gave her a weak smile and gestured to the door that led down below the deck, praying he wouldn't throw up on her before they got there. "Lead the way."


	17. Looking Back

Cloud was startled by how eager Zana was to help him. Usually seasick people were avoided like the plague, but as if someone had flipped some internal switch, she suddenly snapped into SOLDIER-on-a-Mission Mode and began to guide him down to her room. It took her barely any time at all to get them there – in fact, she nearly dragged him the entire way – and she quickly unlocked the door and invited him to lie down on the bed while she rifled through her stash of seasickness remedies. He slowly eased himself down onto the mattress, careful not to move too quickly, and stretched out, relieved to notice that it immediately helped the nausea somewhat. A moment later, she handed him a glass of ginger ale and a couple of pills he had never seen before.

"What are these?" he asked curiously, turning the small white tablets over in his hand.

"Medicine for motion sickness. Works like a charm, or so I'm told. They might make you a little tired, though."

"Hmm…" He swallowed the pills quickly and washed them down with a small sip of the ginger ale, wondering just why he had never known about these before. If they worked like she said, then he  _really_  could have used them several years ago when almost the only way to travel anywhere was by helicopter or in the back of an armored truck. When Zana had sat herself down against the wall near the bed, he decided to talk to her in an effort to distract himself from thinking about the constant rocking of the ship.

"So, tell me something," he began in as casual a voice as he could, staring up at the ceiling as he spoke.

"Like what?" Zana asked, yawning and stretching lazily in her little corner of the room.

"Why are you here at all right now? On this ship, on this mission, still working as a SOLDIER. You're a nice girl, so what made you choose to stay with all of the vipers slithering around in that snake pit? Surely there were other things you wanted to do with your life after SOLDIER?" Zana's eyes widened before she sighed and looked up at the ceiling, too; she was silent for so long he wasn't sure she was even going to answer him.

"Well," she finally began, hesitantly at first. "A lot of things about Shin-Ra have changed since you were a part of it, Cloud. It's actually a company I'm proud to work for now – what's left of it, that is. Everyone's done the best they can to change after what happened with Sephiroth, and Rufus especially has come a long way considering what he was originally raised to do. I choose to stick with them now because I was just as much a part of the wound Shin-Ra inflicted on the planet as anyone else, and I kind of owe it to them to help, y'know? Besides, after being a part of Shin-Ra for nine years, they're all just like a family to me, and I'd miss them too much to leave now."

"Nine years? So you joined when you were sixteen?"

"Yeah. Hard to believe it's been that long, but yeah. What about you?"

"I was fourteen. I ran away from home to join. My mother didn't approve, but I thought maybe if I worked hard enough I'd become just like the great General Sephiroth someday."

"Well, I think that's why most people joined, honestly," Zana said thoughtfully. "But my motivations were… a little less clear."

"How so?"

"I guess I only really joined because I was young and stupid, to tell you the truth. I don't regret it, but still… Zack had left Gongaga without even saying goodbye when he was thirteen years old. 'I'm gonna become a hero!' That's what he always told me when we were growing up, and he thought SOLDIER was the perfect way to do that. Shin-Ra was amazing, almost otherworldly to poor village kids like us, and the SOLDIERs seemed almost like gods in human form. The way he would talk to me about them… He always knew, just knew somehow, that SOLDIER could give him his big break. And," she said with a bitter laugh. "I guess in a way it did."

Her grief over losing Zack was still so strong it was almost a tangible thing, so very similar to his own. It came as somewhat of a shock; he had never imagined that someone with such a cheerful exterior would be the one to understand the things he had agonized over for so many years, and yet she had not been broken.

"So how did you end up in SOLDIER?" Cloud asked, wanting very much to know more if she was willing to tell him.

"Zack would always send letters home, telling us about his training, or his mentor Angeal Hewley, or some blond-haired trainee he'd taken under his wing," she continued, grinning at the aforementioned blond. "So we always knew at least some of what he was doing. I'd even considered joining the Turks then, since women weren't allowed in SOLDIER; my parents absolutely forbade it, though, so I left it alone. But then, right after Zack told us he was going on a mission to Nibelheim, his letters suddenly just stopped coming. A few months later, we got some half-baked apology from a Shin-Ra infantryman saying you and he had been dead for almost three months, and oh they were so sorry and blah-blah-blah.

"By the time I was sixteen, I didn't trust Shin-Ra anymore. A few years before, after the Gongaga reactor exploded, some of the employees who had just lost their jobs decided to stick around town for a while. The things they did just sort of turned me against the company as a whole. It was nothing unusual for Gongaga: theft, murder, rape, things like that, but it made me realize that the people from Shin-Ra weren't the gods we had always made them out to be. So when I heard how easily that man just rattled off Zack's name as K.I.A. and walked away like it meant nothing, something told me he was still alive somehow. I snuck out of Gongaga the next day and went to look for him myself. It took a while, but I finally got to Nibelheim, since that was the best lead I had. There were tons of scientists and infantrymen staying there, so I had to sneak around to look for information. I ran into Tifa there and we found out we had the same goal, except she was looking for you and not Zack. But since she had seen both of you before and knew Nibelheim better than I did, we decided to team up."

"So that's what you meant by knowing her a long time ago?" Cloud asked, finally putting two and two together.

"Yes. All of our theories pointed toward Shin-Ra Mansion, since it was suddenly the most heavily-guarded place in Nibelheim, but we could never get close enough to search for you. We both knew some martial arts – she knew much more than I did – but neither of us knew enough to take on all of those men with guns." Cloud nodded, knowing just how true that statement was.

"So, extremely long story short, we both just sort of drifted apart when we started searching for other ways to find leads on you two. She decided AVALANCHE would probably have lots of information on Shin-Ra that she could use, but I felt like joining an anti-Shin-Ra group would go against everything Zack had fought for, so I couldn't make myself join with her. We split up and didn't speak to each other again after that. I decided I had to protect our honor in Zack's place, but Shin-Ra didn't make women into SOLDIERs, so I did it myself."

"How did you do that?"

"I stayed up on Mt. Nibel for days, completely submerging myself in mako every chance I got. And it worked – I had the mako levels of a SOLDIER within only a few days. But they were definitely the worst days of my life. Everything about me was in so much pain I was constantly screaming, and I was almost totally blind while my eyes changed. I could barely move, and I couldn't think or move or eat or anything because all my body cared about was  _mako_. But after I dragged myself away from there I recovered enough to travel to Midgar, and once I talked to President Rufus he decided that it was too risky to have someone with SOLDIER-level strength loose outside the company, so he hired me almost immediately. I guess it was sort of cruel to put him in that position, but it worked. And the rest," she said, staring into his eyes so he could see the slight glow of her own, "as they say, is history."

"So you've been there for the last nine years, huh? Have you ever gone back to Gongaga?" Cloud asked with a yawn, noticing to his dismay that he was suddenly extremely sleepy.

"Once," she said quietly. "I went back last year to see my father."

"And your mother?"

"She died four years ago, right after I turned twenty-one. A few months after Zack really was killed, she just got sick and never got better. I was invited to the funeral, but there was no way for me to leave Midgar. Everything was on lockdown while we tried to keep AVALANCHE in check – which obviously failed, since I'm sitting here talking to you right now."

"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't know –" Zana held up a hand to silence him and shook her head.

"I didn't say that to make you feel guilty or anything. I'm just telling you what happened. I knew going into SOLDIER that my body and soul belonged to Shin-Ra until the day I died or retired, and personal matters had to sit on the back burner; that was what I signed up for."

"Still…"

"Well, anyway, that answers your question about why I joined and then some, right?" the raven-haired SOLDIER asked, back to her usual cheerful self.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Anytime. I could talk your ear off all day if you wanted me to, but you look pretty tired," she said as he tried and failed to hide another yawn and his eyelids became heavier and heavier. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Oh. Yeah," he muttered, having almost completely forgotten about his seasickness while he had been talking to her. "Much better. Thank you."

"No problem! But I still wouldn't push your luck too much. It might be better to just sleep it off for a while, if you can. You're welcome to take my bed." Cloud was so drowsy he barely heard her, but he mustered enough energy to nod and mumble a quick "Thanks…" as she put her coat back on and stepped out onto the balcony to watch the waves again. In no time at all, he had drifted off completely.


	18. Listen to the Rain

"But why didn't you tell me Zana was crushin' on Cloud?" Reno asked, crossing his arms over his chest and giving Reina his best pout. "I would've tried setting 'em up or somethin', yo!"

"Did I not tell ye earlier?" Reina asked incredulously.

"No."

"An' Zana didn't tell ye herself?"

"No."

"Well it mustn't be any o' yer bleedin' business then."

"No, Lass, I s'pose not," Reno said as he affectionately mocked her accent. "But I do think they'd make an interesting couple, yo."

"Shh!" Reina hissed, looking around nervously before answering him in a whisper. "I think so too, lad, but mind yer words around here! Yer likely to catch Tifa's ear with that, an' then she an' Zana'll be fightin' like two old tomcats again!"

"I might actually like to see that."

"Oh, shut it."

"What's this about old tomcats?" a small voice asked from nearby. "Lassie, are ya talkin' about me?" Cait Sith padded across the deck on four tiny paws, Red XIII close behind, and sat on his haunches before Reno and Reina. His boots, cape, and crown had all been left in the cabin he was sharing with the two Turks in order to keep the saltwater from damaging them. Without those strange accessories, and ignoring the fact that he could talk, he could easily have passed for an ordinary, albeit very large, housecat.

"No, not about ye, m'boy," Reina replied. She patted her right shoulder, and Cait Sith leaped up and perched on it, pressing his cheek against hers in a quick feline gesture of affection. "About the Chocobo-head an' the Gongagan Rose who're both about to give me gray hair at twenty-two."

"I see," said Cait Sith, a smug grin revealing his sharp white teeth as he purred softly. "So ol' Cloud's finally found someone, eh?" He kneaded Reina's shoulder with his round white paws, lost in thought. "Good for you, Lad…"

"Has anyone else noticed how dark it is all of a sudden?" Reno asked, nervously eyeing the angry-looking clouds swirling above them. Red XIII and Reina looked up too, but neither seemed the least bit surprised; Cait Sith ignored Reno's comment entirely, purring in contentment while Reina scratched behind his ears.

"We're just approachin' the Barrier, lad, and it's almost night anyway. Relax your cacks," Reina said with a yawn.

"'Barrier?'"

"Aye," said Cait Sith, yawning himself as he stretched and looked skyward. "It forms the border between Alethía and Midgar's oceans, and is also called the Veil o' Magic. The storms ne'er cease here; there hasn't been a single second in thousands o' years when it hasn't been rainin' and stormin'. It's very forbidding for those who've never sailed through it before, so few people are willing to pass through it. That offers a little natural protection to the Alethíans, hence the name 'Barrier.'"

"Not to worry, though," Reina said to Reno, and to Yuffie and Barret, who had just joined them. "The man sailin' this vessel is the same soul who took me to Midgar all those years ago. He's the best sailor I've ever met, and we'd be hard-pressed to find a man more familiar with the Barrier than him."

"Oh, good…" Reno said with a sigh, a bit of color returning to his ashen face. Reina's eyes softened with pity when she realized just how hard he had been trying to be brave for her. Storms, or weather of any kind, were not common in and around Midgar. It was a dead city, the mako that provided the earth with vitality having been milked out to the last drop. Unlike Cloud, Tifa, and Zana, who had grown up in some of the harshest environments on the Continent, Reno had never had the chance to experience much of the natural world, and it frightened him. Reina smiled softly, then, and laid her hand across his chest, feeling how quickly his heart was beating.

Reno's eyes widened in surprise as she suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, eyes glistening with joyful tears. They had been dating for quite a while, but she still usually wasn't quite so open with her affections. He closed his eyes and kissed her back, and Cait Sith abandoned his perch on Reina's shoulder in to sit on Nanaki's head instead. Yuffie whistled at the pair amusedly, and Barret just rolled his eyes as they finally pulled apart.

"Wow! What'd I do to earn  _that_?" Reno asked, a large grin spreading across his face.

"Nothin'. I just love ye."

"Alright, then! Score one for Reno! Woohoo!"

"Hahaha! I love ya, ye little idjit!"

Reno was about to respond when a clap of thunder dissolved his words into nothingness. Before he could attempt to speak again, a torrential downpour descended upon all of them, plastering everyone's clothes and hair to their skin within seconds. They all looked like drowned rats by the time they managed to make it back to the hallway that led to the lower deck; Reina held the door open so all of their friends could make it inside from the different parts of the deck.

"So, I take it this is the entrance of the 'Barrier?'" Tseng asked as he wrung out his long black hair into a potted plant. Elena scurried off to find him a towel while Reina answered.

"That's right, Sir," she answered, rubbing a towel over Reno's wild hair after he had released it from his usual ponytail. "This is the start o' the stormiest part o' the sea, and it'll be a while before it lightens up at all. We'd best stay indoors as much as possible, because pretty soon this water'll turn to ice and make it real hard to walk on the deck."

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Get him the hell OFF me!" Cid shouted as a wet and frightened Cait Sith dug his claws into the pilot's arms and chest.

"Hey, where's Cloud?" Denzel piped up as Reina began carefully extricating Cait's claws from Cid's shirt.

"And Zana," Marlene chimed in.

"I think she took him down to the room she's sharin' with Reeve a while back," Cid said nonchalantly. "He wasn't lookin' too good, and I mean hell, it's just one boat. Ain't that many other places they could go."

"Well, I need to head back there anyway," said Reeve, sopping wet and shivering. "I'll let you know if I see them." He noticed Tifa's eyes harden at the mention of the two being in the same room, and he left the room hurriedly, not wanting to be caught in the middle of whatever was going on. "Whatever I find," he muttered as he strode down the hall, "I just hope Tifa doesn't kill  _me_  for it."

* * *

Cloud's sleep-laden eyes fluttered open in the darkness of the unfamiliar room. He could hear thunder and wind roaring outside, and the ship swayed back and forth as the waves splashed against it. He closed his eyes, trying to remember where he was and how he got there, but he wasn't awake enough to puzzle it out.

Just then the door to the room opened, letting in a weak beam of light. Cloud sat up, ready to fight if necessary, before he realized it was just Reeve. The Commissioner's eyes widened at seeing Cloud in Zana's bed, but he said nothing, even smiling a bit at something Cloud didn't see. Curious, the blond followed Reeve's gaze, gasping in surprise when he saw Zana curled up beside him on the bed, dead asleep. He blushed a little, but Reeve just shook his head and put a finger to his lips, indicating he would say absolutely nothing. Cloud lay back down on the pillow, tensing for a moment when Zana pressed up against him and sighed in her sleep; she was very warm, if nothing else. Before Reeve had even come back from changing his clothes, Cloud was asleep again, a small smile still on his face. The Commissioner smiled and crawled into his own bed, leaving the two of them to their dreams as he fell into his own.

* * *

Around three a.m., while the rest of the ship slept, the door to Zana and Reeve's room swung open, too quietly to disturb the dreams of anyone within. A young man peered eagerly in, baring his teeth in a sinister grin and advancing toward the blond and the SOLDIER as he drew his weapon of choice – a digital camera. Just a little closer… Five more steps. Four. Three –

Something pulled sharply on the man's long hair, and he almost yelped out loud before turning to face his "captor."

"Give me that camera, lad, or the ponytail gets cut," Reina whispered, the glinting pair of scissors in her hand adding emphasis to the threat.

"You never let me have any fuuunn…" Reno whined, handing it over with a frown.

"And the camera phone, too," she added, holding out her hand.

"Aww, mannn…"

With that, Reina yanked a protesting Reno by his red hair all the way back to their room. Cloud and Zana were never any the wiser.


	19. And the Thunder Rolls

The next day passed much the same as the first; everyone was content to relax in their cabins, warm and dry, while the storm continued to rage outside. None of them but Cid even ventured outside of their rooms much, happy to just take the rare chance to sleep the day away or chat idly amongst themselves. The deck had frozen into a solid sheet of ice overnight, so the footing was too treacherous to go out even if it hadn't still been raining and sleeting. Cloud slept late, unconsciously curling up around Zana when she first began to stir. She opened her eyes and, seeing who it was she was cuddled against, happily dozed off again. Zana hadn't seen Tifa for more than a few seconds at a time since their fight in the church, and she liked it that way. The two women hadn't spoken since then, and even Cloud seemed to be keeping a bit of distance between Tifa and himself, although she might have been imagining it.

Not long after Zana had fallen asleep again, Cloud was forced to get out of bed as his seasickness returned with a vengeance, barely making it to the bathroom before he was on his knees making friends with the porcelain gods. Zana and Reeve woke immediately after, and they both spent the rest of the day in their cabin with him, trying to keep him comfortable and calm his stomach as much as they could. Zana was surprised by how helpful Reeve was; she hadn't known the Commissioner well before this, so she was not expecting him to be such a caring man. By the time evening rolled around, all three of them were exhausted and Cloud looked like death warmed over. He quickly fell asleep in Zana's bed again, not giving a second thought to the fact that that meant he was going to be sleeping beside her; he was too tired to care. Besides, the more time they spent together, the more comfortable he was becoming having her near him. She was beginning to seem like one of the group, almost like she had been travelling with them for quite a long time rather than only knowing him for a little under two months. It was probably her connection to Zack that made her seem so immediately familiar, but whatever the reason was, he liked it.

* * *

The three occupants of the room slept peacefully, undisturbed by any unpleasant dreams or redheaded Turks with cameras. When Zana awoke again, it was to the slow rumble of thunder echoing through the inky blackness of the skies outside. Lightning flashed with hateful fury, alighting the room with phantom bursts of color even through the curtain over the window. Yawning, the SOLDIER brushed her bedraggled black hair out of her eyes and sat up to check the clock; it was already six a.m., and Reina had said they should reach Alethía not long after noon that day.

"Hmm. Hell of a storm," she muttered to herself. She glanced over at Cloud and Reeve, still peacefully asleep, and was careful not to wake either of them when she got up to go stretch her legs in the hall. Reaching into her bag for the seasickness medicines she had brought, she laid them beside Cloud on the bedside table; with the waves tossing them the way they were, he would undoubtedly need them soon.

Just as she turned to grab the door handle and step out of the room, a large wave tossed the ship violently to the bow, sending the bottle of ginger ale crashing to the floor where it shattered in a glistening shower of liquid and glass.

"Zana! Cloud!" Reeve asked as he jolted up in bed with a gasp. "Are you two alright?"

"Yeah, fine," Zana answered over the rumbling thunder. "Just stay where you are, guys. There's broken glass and I need to –"

"'Ey! You guys!" a deep male voice shouted through the door, somehow managing to overpower even the volume of the thunder. The sound was accompanied by a frantic pounding on the door. "Hey! Open up, dammit!"

Cloud leapt to his feet and strode carefully around the glass toward the source of the noise, placing himself between Zana and the door as he turned the handle. Barret immediately rushed in, panting and soaking wet.

"Barret, what's wrong?" Zana asked worriedly. "Oh, and watch your step, there's broken glass over there," she said as Reeve began carefully making his way toward them.

"Any o' you guys seen Cid anywhere?" Barret asked hurriedly.

"Not since he dropped by last night," Cloud answered. "Why?"

"'Cause I can't find him anywhere! I've been lookin' for half an hour!"

"You don't think he fell overboard…?"

"I don't know, man, that's why I'm askin'  _you_!"

Wasting no more time, Zana dashed out of the room and knocked forcefully on Reno and Reina's door, not stopping until she heard the deadbolt click and the door start to open. Reina stood just inside the door, blinking groggily at her friend.

"G'mornin', Zana," she said blearily.

"Reina, wake up Reno and meet me in the hall. Cid's missing."

"What?! Alright, lass, it's okay. We'll find 'im."

It took hardly any time for the two Turks to meet her outside their room, and in that time Zana had also alerted Tseng and Elena and told them to wake everyone else. Cloud and Barret had gone further up the hall to wake Tifa; Cait Sith and Reeve had been asked to stay with Denzel and Marlene. When Zana had rejoined Reno and Reina, the trio began to follow Red XIII, who had been waiting for them while they got themselves together. They trailed behind him up the stairs, trusting his nose to be able to lead them to the missing pilot. As soon as they opened the door to the outside, the torrential rainstorm rushed in, soaking them to the bone with ice-cold water. Red XIII growled at the sinister clouds and shook some of the water from his coat.

For what seemed an eternity, they waited for Nanaki's nose to find the scent. They heard several pairs of shoes drumming behind them on the deck, and then Nanaki lifted his head and dashed to the rail, hackles raised.

"What is it?" Tifa asked as he sniffed one side of the rail and then the other. He growled and backed away, shaking his head and shivering violently. His eyes were wide with fear, and his breath came in shallow pants as his tongue lolled out one side of his mouth.

"Hey, you alright?" Reno asked worriedly, placing a hand on Nanaki's back. The great beast shook himself off as if merely drying his fur, and his usual calm returned.

"Forgive me for worrying you," he growled. "I'm alright. Cid's scent  _is_  on the rail, but there is none on the outer edge, so he did not fall overboard. There was something else, though… Something… I feel like I've smelled before. It's been lingering around us since late last night, keeping just enough distance that I could not pinpoint it. But now it's just beneath us, barely deep enough to conceal itself."

"One of the sea dragons, maybe?" Reina asked thoughtfully. "They are intimidating, but they rarely even take notice of humans in these waters."

"No!" Nanaki spat impatiently. His lips had curled upward to reveal dagger-sharp teeth; he could scarcely stand to utter the name of the creature. "It reeks of Jenova."

"We have to find Cid. Now," Cloud said, his face paler than usual against the obsidian-colored sky. "And I think I might know where he is."

* * *

Cloud's hunch was right. After clambering through the darkness and sliding across the icy wooden deck, Reina had, at Cloud's insistence, led everyone to the door of the steerage quarters. At a light touch, the door opened a few inches, sending a weak beam of light out across the deck and illuminating the group's shocked faces.

Cid, oblivious to the worry he had just caused everyone, whirled around to grin at them from his position beside the captain, one hand still on the wheel of the ship as he waved at them with the other.

"Beautiful ship, ain't she?" he asked happily, running his fingers down the old wheel. "Maybe I oughta start buildin' waterships next. Nice build, good steering system… I managed to figure out that she's called 'Mo Neamheaglach Dubh.' It means 'My Fearless Maid,' based on what the captain told me. Fits, huh?" Everyone just stared at him, not sure whether to be more surprised by the fact that they had just found him completely unscathed or that he had managed to pronounce an entire Alethían name almost perfectly.

"Man, are you just crazy or what?!" Barret finally shouted. "We all thought you'd gone and drowned! The hell are you doin' playin' around with the damn boat in weather like this?!"

"I had to know how it worked," Cid said, a little guiltily. "I was gonna go insane not knowin'. Turns out this little fishin' lure ain't any harder to steer than my airships. In fact, I've been the one steerin' us for the last few hours – with the captain here, of course. Whoa!" he shouted excitedly as the ship jumped a large wave. "Woohoo! What a ride!"

"That was some wave," said Tifa.

"Uh, Tifa…" said Reno, eyeing the windows suspiciously. "I don't think that was a wave."

"You mean –"

She was cut off by a guttural roar that sounded like a growl, a moan, and a shrill scream all rolled into one. As the sound echoed around the room, the ship bucked again, throwing everyone but Cid onto the floor on their backs; the captain hit his head hard and was immediately knocked unconscious. Red XIII snarled fiercely, his nostrils filled with the stench of the bane of the planet, and bounded out onto the deck. The others leapt to their feet as quickly as they could and followed after him, drawing their weapons as they ran.

"Cid!" Barret shouted over his shoulder as the pilot stepped up to the wheel and began bringing the ship back under control. "You'd better be right about knowin' how to steer this thing, 'cause we're all dead if you aren't."


	20. The Stuff of Nightmares

The beast that rose out of the sea was grotesque, so huge and horrible that everyone gave an involuntary shudder at the sight of it. It stood nearly one hundred feet tall, a writhing, undulating mass of translucent black flesh. Twenty tentacles, each topped with a gnarled, clawed, ten-fingered hand, slashed and grabbed at the water as if to rend it in two. The squid-like thing could not see them, for it possessed no eyes; instead, it could sense the heat of their bodies with special cells around its enormous mouth and on the palms of its hands. It made no move at first as it sized them up, deciding who would be easiest to kill; the stench of rotting flesh permeated the air around it, even with all of the water to wash the smell away.

The crack of a gunshot suddenly split the air, and a large bullet hole appeared in one of the monster's long arms. It shrieked, swinging at the ship and making it sway dangerously. Zana whirled around to see Vincent running up the deck, leaping from rail to rail like a cat as he shot again and again at the foul thing. Tseng, Elena, Rude, and Yuffie stood not far behind him, poised for battle with their weapons drawn as they waited for the gunslinger to need them. At the moment he seemed perfectly fine, hopping from one place to another and even up and down the long tentacles, disappearing long before the monster could strike the last place he had been. He moved with almost supernatural grace; it was an amazing sight to see.

"Here, guys!" Yuffie shouted, dragging the Buster and Fusion Swords across the deck while Tseng tossed Reina her Novena.

"Thank ye, Tseng!" Reina shouted, happy to have her weapon back. Awaiting no orders, she immediately released a blast of electric magic from the crystal spear on the tip. The Jenova spawn screamed and struck out at her; she dodged easily, swinging the scythe end of the Novena in a graceful arc that easily severed one of the beast's twenty long tentacles. The now useless appendage flopped onto the deck with a loud splat, continuing to writhe and squirm even after being separated from the main body. Reina snarled in disgust, now covered with a disgusting mixture of black blood and some type of slime she had no desire to know the source of.

Vincent and the Turks continued firing a barrage of bullets on the hideous creature, leaving large holes peppering its massive body. One clawed hand suddenly shot out with the speed of lightning, catching the ex-Turk around the chest and throwing him hard against the wall of the ship. There was a sickening series of cracks, and he gasped in pain before sliding bonelessly down to the ground; blood dripped down his face and over his closed eyes from a large gash on the crown of his head, and his jaw was clenched with suppressed cries of agony. Yuffie gasped and raced to his side, severing another two tentacles before they could reach him and further enraging the thrashing thing. As Cloud and Zana slashed at the tentacles with their blades, Barret and Red XIII unleashed magic that burned a large, charred scar across the area where the thing's face should have been. Tifa, through nothing but her own strength, ripped one of the tentacles in half, throwing the pieces into the water with an air of disgust. The massive thing thrashed harder than ever, rocking the ship hard enough to throw almost everyone onto their backs.

By chance, Zana happened to glance to the side just in time to see the monster speeding toward Tifa, Yuffie, and Vincent, enraged and aiming for the heat signatures of their bodies. Yuffie hurriedly got to her feet and grabbed Vincent, praying she would not hurt him more as she dragged him clear of the tentacles' range; Tifa, however was still in harm's way. With her legs scrabbling for purchase on the icy deck, Zana got to her feet and sprang forward, placing her body in front of the brunette's. The enraged mass of evil took the bait; two of its enormous tentacles coiled around Zana's waist and plucked her from the deck, ready to pull her into its mouth sword and all. Not worried in the least, Zana cut herself free, realizing her mistake a second too late; the water below was thirty-three degrees. She felt herself falling, and real panic set in as she hurriedly secured the Buster Sword to the magnet on her back and sucked in the deepest breath she could. The glassy abyss reached up to meet her, and in an instant the SOLDIER had completely disappeared beneath the endless waves.

"ZAANAAA!" Reina screamed. She was about to run for the rail when Reno's arms grabbed her around the waist, holding her back.

"Don't you dare!" Reno said with a ferocity she had never heard him direct at her before. "I am  _not_  losing you to this thing!"

"But I –"

She fell silent as she saw a streak of gold fly past her, straight for the remaining tentacles that continued to strike at everyone on the deck.

"Graaah! Let me go, dammit!" Cloud shouted as he hacked his way through the slimy flesh of the Jenova spawn. "I don't have time for you!" It took him only seconds to see where Zana was; only one of the creature's remaining tentacles was hidden under the water, coiled around its prize. Cloud gasped, realizing in an instant that it intended to drown her. Without a second thought, he stepped to the top of the rail, took the deepest breath he could muster, and jumped.


	21. An Unusual Skill

The frigid water stabbed into Zana's body like a thousand daggers; the shock forced the air from her lungs and she stiffened in pain, instantly numb and weak. She tried to kick upward, but the demonic squid snatched her up in a viselike coil, pinning her arms to her sides and giving her no way to reach her sword. Above her, the water splashed as someone dove into the black depths. The lightning illuminated the silhouette, and she finally made out who was swimming toward her – Cloud.

" _NO!_ " she screamed mentally, trying with all her might to will him back onto the ship as her lungs seared with the need for breath. " _NO! Get out of here! Leave me!_ "

But Cloud, unaware of her mental pleadings, continued to swim toward her, slicing off the monster's limbs as it grabbed at him. Mere seconds later, he reached Zana and cut her free. He drew her face close to his and pressed their lips together tightly, giving her a breath of much-needed air. He wrapped his arm around her waist and began to swim upward, pulling her weak and nearly paralyzed body to the surface. Just a few more feet; the wait seemed unbearably long. With a small splash, the two of them finally breached the water's surface, gasping and coughing up water as they clung to each other for dear life.

"Huhl… Houhd…" Zana panted, so cold she couldn't even get Cloud's name out right. She shivered so violently she was afraid she would accidentally hit him. Cloud pulled her closer, letting her wrap her arms and legs around him as he kept them both afloat.

"J-j-jus-s-st hang – hang o-h-h-nn…" Cloud managed between tremors of his own. "W-we-'ll-l get t-th-through th-this-s-s…" Zana was too tired and cold to respond, so she just laid her head on his shoulder, curling up around him as tightly as she could without restricting his ability to swim.

A moment later, something sharp and shiny whizzed past their heads and into the water. Something long and smooth brushed against Zana's leg; a snake?! She sighed in relief when she realized it was just a rope. The two of them grabbed on and felt themselves being reeled back toward the ship. Above the deck, shining in the distance, was a ball of light unlike anything Zana could remember ever seeing before. As they drew closer, she could make out the figure of an old man floating in the center of the light. He was dressed in pure white robes, and his long white hair and beard looked as clean and pure as a fresh snowfall; even his wooden white-and-gold staff seemed to radiate a warm, heavenly light.

Not long after they had grabbed the rope, both of them were hauled out of the water and onto the deck by Yuffie and Tifa, who were both delighted that the idea of tying a rope to Yuffie's shuriken had worked so well. As soon as they were safely back aboard, the two women hastily stripped them down and wrapped them in thick, waterproof woolen blankets. The two huddled together as far out of the rain as they could, too cold to be bothered by the lack of clothing and unable to offer any further help for all the shivering they were doing.

As it turned out, their help wasn't needed anyway. Just as soon as she was sure Cloud and Zana were out of harm's way, Reina had turned her attention back to the Jenova spawn. Raising the crystal spear of the Novena high above her head, she closed her eyes and chanted in a rapid-fire mixture of Alethían and what sounded to Zana like speaking in tongues. She gasped quietly and her eyes shot open; they were glowing pure white, with no trace of her usual green irises to be seen. Her face was calm and tranquil; she scarcely seemed even to breathe. Her hands tightened around the Novena, and she turned her head skyward.

"Ramuh, God of Thunder!" she shouted, her voice oddly muted. It echoed as if several other people were speaking with her, and she enunciated each syllable perfectly, hiding almost every trace of her normal brogue. "I summon you now! Lend us your power – destroy this foul spawn of the enemy of the Planet! In the name of the almighty Covenant of Spirits, I command you!"

Ramuh opened his eyes wider and nodded at Reina. The tip of his staff began to crackle with electricity; his hair and robes billowed high in the air, lifted by the force of the static. The air hummed with tension as Ramuh lifted his staff high above his head. With a flash, the stored electricity shot up high into the clouds, illuminating the dark sea like daylight. The clouds above swelled dramatically, swirling above him like the eye of a hurricane.

With a hiss and a crack like a gunshot, a shower of lightning bolts rained down upon the monster. It screamed horribly as it was burned alive; when the lightning ceased, nothing remained of it but a filthy slick of charred, oily tissue floating atop the water. His job now completed, Ramuh faced Reina and bowed his head low. Reina returned the bow, bending all the way to her waist in a show of thanks and respect. The wizened god smiled softly at her and vanished in a flash of light, leaving nothing but glowing dust behind.

The group stared awestruck at Reina, silently watching the space where Ramuh had just been. Then all at once, most of them burst into cheers. Reno ran to her side and wrapped his arms around her waist, giving her a quick peck on the cheek and beaming at her.

"Where'd you learn to do that, Babe?" he asked excitedly. "I mean, I always thought you needed a Summon Materia to do that, but… Wow! Just, wow!" Reina laid her hand against his cheek affectionately.

"Soon ye'll all learn it, lad. Very soon." She turned serious, then, looking to Tseng for direction as he surveyed the damage.

"Alright," he said hurriedly, kneeling beside Vincent, who was barely conscious and obviously in a great deal of pain. "Rude and Elena, help me get him down to the sickbay. Reno and Reina, I want you to go ahead of us and get any supplies ready that we might need."

"Let me come with you – I have healing materia," Yuffie said, taking one of Vincent's hands in hers and squeezing it reassuringly.

"Thank goodness for that," Tseng said, relief evident on his face. "Just don't use it until we've had the chance to set any broken bones; we don't want to regrow them if they're crooked. Cloud. Zana," he said as he and Rude carefully lifted the gunman between them. "Are you two going to be alright on your own for a bit?" The pair nodded, standing shakily and allowing themselves to be escorted down the hall by Reeve, who had come out onto the deck as soon as the chaos had quieted. "Alright, then, let's go." With that, the Turks disappeared down into the body of the ship, carrying Vincent as delicately as they could and hoping that Yuffie would be able to bring him some comfort while they worked on him. This was  _not_  going to be a pleasant experience.

* * *

An hour later, everyone in the party was gathered in some part of the sickbay or another, waiting to hear what Tseng had to say after calling them all there. Vincent was stretched out on one of the cots with Yuffie lying beside him; most of his body was covered by a thin sheet, and his usual red headscarf had been replaced by a tangle of white gauze. It had turned out to be very lucky that Yuffie had brought her curative materia along. When he had been thrown against the side of the ship's walls, the gunman had received several broken ribs, a shattered humerus and a crack in his left shoulder blade, and three broken spinal vertebrae. Chaos's powers would have enabled him to recover without the materia, but he would have been in excruciating pain for several days, as well as being unable to travel and thus slowing them down considerably. As it was now, however, his broken bones had already knitted, and he would be ready for light travel within only hours. For now he was lying still, pressed against Yuffie while he patiently awaited Tseng's words to the group.

"So," Tseng finally began, his voice hesitant as he tried to decide how best to phrase the question. "Reina."

"Yes, sir?"

"I take it that whatever that monster was, it was  _not_  a planned part of this trip?"

"Oh, no, not at all," Reina said, nervously twisting one of her red curls around a long finger. "I'm not even sure wha' that thing was, to be honest with ye." Tseng sighed, and a knowing look passed between him and Rufus before he spoke again.

"It's as I thought, then. I think Selph was probably aware that we would try to escape to Alethía, and left this remnant of Jenova waiting for us. I don't think she counted on us being able to take it down, though, and probably thought we would all be lying at the bottom of the ocean by now."

"Unless, maybe, she was just getting a feel for our strength," Vincent said darkly, his crimson eyes cold as he considered the possibilities. "After all, I'm sure someone with power rivaling Kadaj's wouldn't want to waste time on people who can't put up a fight."

"You could be right about that," Tifa said from a corner of the room, staring down at her hands as she thought it over. "But we beat that thing, so what does that mean for us now?"

"For now, it means absolutely nothin'," Reina said, her eyes bright and a confident smirk on her lips. "We'll be reachin' the port in just a few hours, and once we do we'll all be protected by the veil of magic that surrounds the entirety of Alethía. If the land considers someone a threat, there'll be no passage for them; not even someone of Sephiroth's strength could break through. Unless Selph figures out a way to dispel the magic – and knowin' her, it is very possible, but unlikely – we'll be completely safe from anything she might try to do. She won't even be able to sense our presence without our say-so."

"So what would be the best course of action?" Tseng asked, for once unsure of how to proceed next.

"One o' my old friends is going to meet us in town as soon as we dock," Reina answered calmly. "From there, he'll take us to my ol' home, and we'll be able to begin makin' up a plan for just how we want to take Selph down. My friend'll give ye more details once ye meet him, but suffice it to say we'll be lookin' into some forms of magic even Sephiroth barely knew how to use."

"Is that the type of magic you used to summon Ramuh earlier?" Reno asked, finally beginning to put two and two together.

"Aye. And if all goes according to plan, ye'll all soon be able to do the same, and then some."

"And what exactly is it that makes this magic so special?" Cloud asked curiously, turning a piece of materia around between his fingers as he spoke.

"The magic I was taught to use doesn't require any materia at all," Reina answered, letting a few sparks dance across her fingers to demonstrate. "It's a skill long forgotten by the people o' the Continent, and one that was very misunderstood by most o' the people involved with Shin-Ra." At this, Rufus looked down at his hands, knowing exactly what she was about to say and hating his part in it. "The ancient Alethíans had no name for themselves; they were all very simple folk, all livin' in harmony with the planet and harnessin' the power o' the Lifestream with unusual ease. They named their country with a word meanin' 'Truth,' and the name has remained to this day. And the 'true' way of harnessin' the energy of the planet is what I hope to teach ye here. For Alethía, friends, is the original birthplace o' the Cetra."


	22. The Race that No One Knows

Everyone in the sickbay sat as still as statues, frozen in shock by Reina's revelation. For a time, everyone but her fellow Shin-Ra employees stared at her in slack-jawed awe; even Vincent couldn't help the way his red eyes widened, although it was still a much subtler reaction than the others'. It was Barret who finally broke the silence.

"Are you %#$&*#% kidding me?!" he shouted, causing everyone to flinch as his loud voice startled them back to attention. "You're a %#$&*#% Ancient? And you didn't tell us this sooner?!" Reina fixed him with a level stare, her deep green eyes boring into his.

"I had no reason to tell ye," she said calmly. "All of ye seem to think bein' a Cetra, or an 'Ancient,' as ye call it, is somethin' ta get all worked up over. But it's not."

"It sure as hell is!" Cid spat, managing to keep himself from shouting as loudly as Barret had. "We've been thinkin' Aerith was the last of the Ancients for years! It's a pretty big %#$&*#% deal to find out there's another one!"

"But that's just it," Reina said with a sigh, looking at the blond rocket scientist as if he were the dumbest person in the world. "I'm not 'another Ancient,' as ye put it. There're thousands o' people who can do exactly the same kinds o' magic that I can, almost all o' whom still live in Alethía. An' I'm sorry to say there's nothin' mystical or otherworldly about any o' us. We're just as human as the rest o' ye. That whole 'Ancient' term was coined by people who just didn't understand anything about their neighbors across the sea and, rather than actually meetin' us an'  _askin'_  how we did magic without materia, decided that we must be some kind o' legendary 'lost race.'"

"But Aerith definitely had some special kind of communication with the Planet that none of us could understand," said Tifa, tilting her head in confusion. "Are you saying that's something all Alethíans can do?"

"Not  _all_ , no. But some can. An' most of ye could too, if ye just paid more attention to the messages the Planet's constantly tryin' to send ye. In fact, the only difference between the so-called 'Cetra' an' you all is that we've been raised without modern technology or mako-based electricity, an' so we've learned to stay in touch with nature because it's the only way we can survive."

"So Hojo was wrong, then…" Cloud muttered from his corner of the room. "His search for the 'Ancients' was completely pointless, and Aerith wasn't the 'last of her kind.' Is that what you're saying, Reina?" The redheaded woman sighed, turning her attention to Cloud.

"Essentially, yes. Aerith was a woman o' Alethían descent; her genealogy can be traced back to this country for several generations, an' her mother was born an' raised here before immigratin' to Midgar. That explains a bit about why she was more in tune with the Planet than the rest o' you – her mother raised her to be that way. Even with that said, though, Aerith  _was_  a bit o' a special case. You were right, Tifa, in sayin' that she had a special connection to the Planet that none o' you could feel. Why the gods chose her to be their messenger an' humanity's protector, I canna' say, but that is most definitely what she was."

"So how long have you known all this?" Yuffie piped up, voicing the question everyone had wanted to ask but hadn't yet managed to.

"Well since I was born in Alethía,  _I've_  known most o' it for my entire life. But I've only been in Midgar since I was thirteen an' part o' the Turks since I was fifteen, so…"

"Okaaaay… And you Shin-Ra people didn't find the need to tell us any of this after you found out? Or maybe, y'know, tell  _Hojo_  so he would stop his Crazy McBatshit experiments?" Vincent elbowed her softly in the ribs, and she fell silent immediately.

"We tried, believe me," Tseng said remorsefully. "But it didn't matter what we told Hojo since he was, as you said, 'Crazy McBatshit.'" Yuffie snickered softly, amused at how out-of-place that phrase sounded coming from Tseng's mouth. "The one who could have stopped all of it was President ShinRa, but he was too greedy and crazed by his search for the 'Promised Land' to listen to anything that disproved his theories. We did all we could, but it just wasn't enough."

"You did all you could do," said Nanaki, surprising everyone who had nearly forgotten he was there. "Being Turks, you couldn't go against President ShinRa even if you knew he was in the wrong. He held your lives in his hands, and he could have ended them at any time he wished. Forgive me if this offends you, but it actually reminds me a bit of a pack of loyal dogs serving their master; no matter what kind of man he is, he is the one who owns them in body and soul, and the dogs do not question it."

"That's a very good description, actually," said Rufus ShinRa, nodding to Nanaki and smiling ever so slightly. "My father definitely expected his Turks to obey him like well-trained dogs, and although I expect the same I have done my best to  _earn_  the loyalty of those who protect me, rather than beat it into them."

"And that's exactly why you're still alive and your old man isn't, yo," Reno said, stretching lazily and yawning. "Ever notice how there wasn't a single Turk anywhere in the building when Sephiroth decided to make a shish-kebab out of ShinRa Senior?" he asked to all of the AVALANCHE members in the room. "That's because all of us were protecting Rufus instead. He was the only one who ever actually gave us any respect, so he was the one we saved, see?"

"Huh. And here I thought you Turks were all brawn and no brains," Cloud said with a slight smirk in Reno's direction. "I guess you  _are_  capable of thinking, after all."

"Watch it, Chocobo-head, before I shove this mag-rod –"

"A- _hem_!" Reina cleared her throat loudly, stopping Reno in mid-sentence before he could say something that would scar Denzel and Marlene for life. "I'm sorry to cut this explanation short, but I'll have to tell ye more once we dock. All of ye should probably get all yer belongings packed soon; we'll be there before too long."

"Ah, yes," Reeve said, his eyes brightening with enthusiasm. "And what's the name of the place where we're supposed to land?"

"Tá Súil Sraidbhaile," Reina answered, a tiny smile making its way across her lips. "It's the place where I was born." Reeve's face fell slightly, and he grew serious as he tried very hard to remember the name. Reina chuckled at him. "If ye don't remember it right away, it's alright. Just call it 'Tá Súil' or 'Hope Village' for short; most everyone knows at least enough Continental to know what ye mean." The rest of the people in the room let out a collective sigh of relief, for there was almost no way most of them were going to be able to pronounce that right. "Well then, I'd best be off to speak to the captain. See all of ye shortly!" Everyone watched her go in silence, more than a little overwhelmed by the sudden turn of the conversation and the information they had just learned about the "Ancients."

"Umm, so…" Yuffie began, drawing everyone's attention to her. "If being Alethían makes Reina an Ancient, does that mean Reno's actually the younger one in the relationship?"

Everyone in the room just rolled their eyes and sighed.


	23. The Village of Hope

The travelers' first glimpse of the mainland was surprisingly quiet, and they arrived utterly without ceremony. Everyone had returned to the sickbay to wait for the landing after gathering their possessions, seeing as Vincent had not left the room yet and they wished to stay together as much as possible. With a sudden lurch, the ship bumped gently against the dock, making the floors rock for a moment before they settled out again. Almost instantaneously, Reina reentered the room, herding everyone up toward the deck and making sure they left none of their belongings behind. Everyone followed at her heels, feeling a strange mixture of anxiety and excitement; if Reina felt anything other than joy at returning home, she masked it very well. As soon as they reached the upper deck, they were greeted by Captain Aeden, who smiled warmly and shook each of their hands before lowering the gangplank to the ground. Gathering together as closely as they could, both to save space and stay warm, they proceeded down the ramp, waiting patiently for Reina to join them on the dock.

Knowing her companions were waiting for her, the youngest Turk quickly turned her attention to Aeden.

" _Thank you so much, Captain,_ " she said in their native tongue. " _You have helped me – and possibly this Planet – more than you'll ever know._ " The older man smiled warmly, hugging her tightly before holding her out in front of him so he could look into her eyes.

" _I would have helped you even if the Planet_ didn't _depend on it, Lass. I've known you since you were just a little girl, and your parents even longer than that. It's what friends do for each other._ "

" _I know, and thank you. I wish you all the best. Be safe, my friend._ "

" _And you, as well. Slán agat._ "

" _Slán leat."_

Once she had said her goodbyes, Reina ran down the gangplank to join her companions. Casting one last glance over their shoulders at the man who had risked his life to carry them through the Barrier and away from Selph's reach, they all waved a solemn goodbye – both to him and to the lives they had known on the Continent.

* * *

Everyone followed behind Reina in silence while they made their way down the docks and onto solid ground. She was the only one who knew how to navigate the area, but her entire demeanor had changed once they began to make their way toward her hometown. It was obvious she was feeling sentimental, maybe even a little guilty about being gone for almost a decade, so they left her alone to deal with her thoughts.

After they had been walking for a mile or two, the group all came to the entrance of a very small, simple-looking village – Hope Village, or Tá Súil Sraidbhaile, as Reina had said. The majority of the buildings were scattered stone cottages, many with thatched roofs and chimneys that poured gray smoke from the fireplaces within. Despite the fact that the ground was covered in snow and ice, many of the trees that dotted the entirety of the town were still green, dropping ice-encrusted needles from their spiny branches with tiny popping sounds. People of all ages bustled about in the central square, bartering their surplus crops and goods in the small market and visiting the local shops and inns. Their clothing was all very simplistic and obviously homemade, mostly in shades of brown or green, although some wore brighter colors like blues and reds. The women as a whole wore dresses, with or without bodices, and the men wore loose-fitting chemise shirts and trousers that were tucked into their worn leather boots. Everyone seemed to have long hair, and while the men tied theirs back into ponytails or braids, the women let it cascade freely down their backs or held it back with small cloths that tied at the bases of their necks.

The most striking difference between Alethía and the Continent, though, became apparent almost the second they entered the tiny burg that was Hope Village. There was not a single sign of electric energy to be seen anywhere. The roads were mostly unpaved, and those that did have some kind of pavement were mainly constructed of gravel or cobblestones. Most people walked from place to place, and if they had to go a long distance they would take a cart attached to some kind of strange four-legged, hoofed animal that only Reina seemed to recognize. Everything seemed to be heated over fires, including water, and there were lanterns attached to people's front doors rather than electric lights. Everyone stared in awe for a moment, taking in the scenery and feeling more than a little out of their element in this place that seemed to be several hundred years behind what they were used to.

"Alright, everyone, follow me," Reina called over her shoulder when she noticed their attention starting to drift. "We're meetin' one o' my old friends at the Inn here, and then we've got a little more preparation to do before we head out tomorrow."

"Head out?" Zana asked, confused. "But I thought this was your hometown. We're not staying here?"

"It  _was_  my hometown, yes," Reina answered patiently, flipping an errant red curl back over her shoulder when it fell too far forward. "But it's been nine years since I was last here. My parents moved to another town in the meantime, so we're going to their new home. They'll be better teachers than I when it comes to usin' magic without Materia."

"So, Reina," Cid began as his eyes continued to travel over everything around them. "This friend o' yers – how long've you known him?"

"Since I was born," she answered, a tone of deep fondness in her voice. Reno's eyes darkened immediately when he noticed it. "We were practically joined at the hip until the day I left here. He's been like a big brother to me for my entire life."

"Yeah, well a brother's  _all_  he'd better be…" Reno muttered under his breath. Reina raised an eyebrow but ignored his comment for the time being.

"Anyway, I think ye'll all like him. He's goin' to be guidin' us to my parents' home, since I haven't seen it yet myself."

Cloud was barely paying attention to Reina while she spoke. He was too preoccupied with the fact that he was being stared at by practically everyone they passed on the street, as were Rufus, Elena, and Cid. Some people even pointed and whispered excitedly under their breath, gesturing at their eyes while they did. Were blonde hair and blue eyes really so unusual here? Vincent was dealing with some stares of his own, although the people seemed more afraid of him than anything else. Some spat in his direction as he passed, and two women even loudly whispered the word "demon" when they mistakenly thought he couldn't hear them. Vincent took it all in stride and chose to ignore them; he was used to his appearance drawing some attention wherever he went, and calling him a demon wasn't technically wrong. Yuffie immediately came to his side and glared murderously at the whispering women, and that shut them up immediately. Vincent smiled thankfully behind his cloak and wrapped an arm around her.

"I'll b-be glad to get i-ins-side," Yuffie stuttered, wrapping herself up in the extra fabric of Vincent's cloak and clinging to him so tightly it made his recently-healed ribs ache a little. "It's c-cold out here!"

"Don't ye worry, Lass," Reina said over her shoulder. "The Inn's just over there, and we'll get all of ye outfitted for this weather before we set off tomorrow. Most of ye wouldn't survive in the clothes ye've got on now, and they attract too much attention to us." She looked down at her Turks uniform, grimacing when she realized just how out-of-place she looked even though she had been born here. Yes, it was  _definitely_  time for a wardrobe change.

A short time later, they all arrived at the door of an inn called "The Hound's Tooth" and strode inside. There were not many patrons in the bar yet, seeing as it was just barely past noon, but the few who were there looked up from their beers and cast strange glances at the pack of oddly-dressed travelers who had just arrived. Denzel and Marlene huddled a bit closer to Cloud and Tifa, not used to being stared at like animals, but everyone else ignored the other patrons completely. Reina spoke to the innkeeper in a quick, hushed version of her native language, and almost immediately turned back to the group with a grin on her face and several keys in the palm of her hand – all without exchanging a single piece of money.

" _Daaamn_!" Barret muttered, impressed. "This girl's got some connections!" Reina smiled and began walking toward the long hallway where their rooms would be, beckoning them after her with a wave of her hand. Zana followed right at her heels, chatting excitedly with her until they reached the door to one of the rooms and Reina stopped to knock softly on it. A few moments later it swung open, revealing a man nearly as large as Barret.

The man's skin was tanned by years of working outdoors, but it was obvious he was naturally very pale. His dark brown hair hung in a ponytail down to his shoulder blades, and the sleeves of his shirt had been cut off to make room for the impossibly muscular arms they would otherwise have hidden. He appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties, and a few specks of gray were visible in his bushy beard. His dark eyes were kind, framed by laugh-lines, and they lit up when he spotted Reina at the front of the group. She squeaked in surprise when he lifted her up into a bear-hug, leaving her feet dangling nearly a foot off of the floor.

"Reina, my girl!" he said in a deep, soft voice. "How've ye been? I's been so long since I've set eyes on ye, I almost didn't realize i' was you!"

"Brogan! It's nice to see you, too, Lad!" Reina replied, her voice muffled since he was squeezing her against his chest. He finally set her down, and Reno slipped an arm around her and held her protectively.

"Ye seem ta have a bit o' an accent there, m'dear," Brogan said affectionately. "Been spendin' a bit too long in Midgar, eh?" Everyone in the group chuckled under their breath, wondering what accent he could have  _possibly_ been hearing; all they heard was a very strong brogue.

"Could be," she said with a shrug. "Anyway, everyone, this is Brogan Láidir, who I've known since the day I was born. Brogan, these are my comrades from Edge: Tseng, Reno, Rude, and Elena o' the Turks; Rufus ShinRa; Barret and Marlene Wallace; Cid Highwind; Yuffie Kisaragi; Reeve Tuesti and Cait Sith; Nanaki; Vincent Valentine; Tifa Lockhart, Denzel, and Cloud Strife; and Zana Zira, o' SOLDIER." While she spoke, she had gestured to each of them in turn. "They're the ones I've told ye about recently – the ones who'll stop Selph before she can harm our Planet the way her father did."

"Aye, Sephiroth… Even I've heard o'  _him_ …" Brogan said with a growl. "Yer all in good hands here, don't ye worry. We'll stop this girl from doin' anythin' too bad. We'll set off again tomorrow, but first we need to get ye all some new clothes ta wear around here. Especially ye two girls; ye'll be nothin' but ice in no time if ye don't dress a little more warmly," he said with a teasing smirk at Yuffie and Tifa. They blushed a little and nodded their understanding. "For now, though, just rest here for a bit. Reina and I need to catch up and decide what the next steps'll be, and ye must be tired." Reno stepped forward, putting himself not-so-subtly between Reina and Brogan.

"Mind if I join?" he asked casually. "I  _am_  an expert in covert operations, y'know. No plan's any good without a good dose of Reno, yo." Brogan raised an eyebrow but nodded, smiling and clapping Reno on the back with an enormous hand.

"If ye want to, then sure. The more the merrier! Anyone else want to come with us, then?" Everyone else shook their heads, relishing the idea of exploring their rooms and getting their land-legs back in peace. "Alright, then. We'll be back in a bit!"

When Reno and Reina had left with Brogan, Cloud turned to Zana, a concerned look on his face.

"Is Brogan going to be alright with Reno around?" he whispered. "It looked like Reno wanted him dead." Zana sighed, running a hand back through her choppy hair in exasperation.

"I don't know, but at this point I don't care. I'm tired and that bed over there looks  _really_  comfortable right now." With a contented sigh, Zana flopped onto the bed face-first; she was dead asleep and snoring in seconds. Cloud just sighed and sat down next to Vincent and Cid at the table in the middle of the room.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she'd know if Reno was really up ta somethin'," Cid said nonchalantly, lighting a cigarette as he spoke.

"Hmm…" Cloud grunted, looking over at the SOLDIER who was currently snoring like a chainsaw on the other side of the room. "If she's anything like Zack, then probably not." Finally, his apprehension got the best of him, and he stood up and walked down the hall in the direction the other three had gone earlier, glaring moodily as he went. "If that idiot gets us deported on our first day here, there won't be anything left of him for Selph to kill."


End file.
